The Final Year
by Sirius01
Summary: DH Spoilers. Will Lily finally see that James is sincere?
1. The glitch in James' Plan

**A/n: **Ooook, writing is new to me so pleeease cut me some slack!! But constructive criticism is more than welcome :) . The story takes place in James and Lily's final year at Hogwarts. This chapter is a tad long, but i needed to say a few things before i finished it. I have quite a busy life so i'll try and update ASAP! Reviews would be wonderful, so please let me know what you think... other than that, enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter.

**Lily's POV**

"Bloody hell."

Lily Evans couldn't find any of her friends as she tried to stare over the heads of a bunch of excited first years standing nervously in front of the steaming scarlet Hogwarts Express. She had thick dark red hair, just past her shoulders and startling green almond-shaped eyes. Lily was in her seventh and final year at Hogwarts School and had turned 17 in late January of this year.

"Oi Evans, you shaped up well over the summer."

Lily rolled her eyes and turned to face James Potter. He was slightly taller than her, with long messy black hair, hazel eyes and a narrow, yet hansom face. He had a smile on his face and winked at her as she gave him a look of disgust.

"Is it true what they're all saying, Evans? You've been appointed the satisfying position of ah, let's see… Head girl?" he said, still smiling.

Laughter came from behind him as Sirius Black appeared and pulled James into a one-armed hug. Sirius, on the other hand, was tall with neat, tidy hair and dark hansom eyes.

"Thought I'd find you over here with Lily, can't go a day without saying a smart-arse comment to her can you, mate… Or attempt to flirt with her. Oh, hold up… Lily and James are head boy and girl, what a coincidence."

"_You_ got head boy? How is that possible? You weren't a prefect, you can't be head boy." said Lily, slightly louder than she anticipated.

"Would you like me to pull out my badge and show you, Evans?" James said, smiling even more.

"Hey Lily, how was your summer darling," Interrupted Sirius.

"Not too bad thanks Black and yours," Said Lily, ignoring James.

"Yeah it was quite uneventful, bashed up Regulus, got kicked out of home, the usual."

"Oh sounds like you had a blast," Lily replied, laughing, "Anyway; I guess I'll catch you round Black. Oh, and… No, Potter,' and with a nod of her head towards Sirius, she turned back around and began to scan the hundreds of students on the platform again.

"No what?" he shouted after her.

"I will not go out with you!" Lily shouted back.

"I didn't even ask you out! Oh my god. Sirius, did I ask her out? NO! I'm pretty sure I didn't. hold me back, Sirius, hold me back…" and he turned around and stormed off.

_James…__ head boy? What the hell were they __thinking?__ What about Remus? Where _was_ Remus anyway?_

"Ah, Sev!"

A skinny tall boy with black greasy hair turned round and gave her a small smile. Severus Snape looked as if he had the worst summer possible and as Lily approached him, he avoided her gaze.

"How have you been? I didn't hear from you all summer Sev... Are you ok?"

"Why do you talk to him Lil? He's a git and you know it! But you still talk to him and make his fat head even bigger," he replied, finally looking up at her. "You know he fancies you, he just wants your attention."

"What? Oh Potter. Sev, I wasn't talking to him I was talking to Black! Plus I was standing there first, it's not like I walked over and started a conversation with them."

"Black is just as bad as Potter, you know that too! Anyway I'm going. There's not going to be any compartments on the train left. Are you coming or what?"

"I'm really sorry Sev but I've got a meeting with the new prefects to show them what to do and that."

"Oh. Congratulations… I guess, on getting head girl." He turned and left Lily standing there staring at his figure disappear through gaps of mothers and fathers saying rushed goodbye's to their children.

"Lily! Over here, Liz has got us a sweet compartment," called Emer.

Lily smiled and ran up to her and they hugged. Emer was Lily's best friend, she, like Lily, was very attractive with light brown hair, almost blonde and green eyes. Lily hadn't seen Emer over the whole summer as she (Emer) had gone back to Ireland where she lives.

"Oh my God it's great to be back. Come on, say goodbye to your mum and dad and let's go. I'm so excited to be back you have no idea," she finished breathlessly.

"I can tell how excited you are from how fast you're talking. I take it you missed me?"

"Of course."

Lily said a rushed goodbye to both her mum, dad and sister Petunia (who ignored her) just as the final whistle went off signaling that the doors to the train were about to be shut. The two of them ran, rushing between parents who were waving to their kids, and together they jumped off the platform. Finding the compartment with Liz in it was easy and they finally sat down as the Hogwarts Express began to make its way north.

"Lily, show us your head girl badge! I was so stoked when I found out," said Emer.

"Ok ok, hold on. I think it's here somewhere."

Lily searched in her pocket and pulled out a shiny badge with a large gold 'H' in the center and handed it to the other two girls.

"Woah, you can put James on detention now, there's something to look forward to," joked Liz. Liz completed the Lily-Emer-Liz trio, who were perhaps the most popular girls in their year. She had long back wavy hair and dark eyes. Liz and Emer were the trouble makers in the trio, whereas Lily was known as the 'goody-goody', but not in a bad way.

"I would, but there's a slight um, dilemma. I know he's had enough detentions to last him a life time," Lily replied laughing, "_But_ he's head boy."

Silence.

"Potter? Head boy? What's the word coming to? Well look at it this way, the two coolest people in the grade are head boy and girl."

"I suppose you could call him the height of cool, yeah. Anyway, sorry to bail but the head boy and girl have to show the new prefects what to do and stuff so I wont be back till nightfall."

"Ok, if there's any good food in the royal compartment, be sure to grab us some Lil. Have fun with Potter and count how many times he asks you out," said Emer as Lily walked out of the compartment and they gave her a sympathetic smile.

………………………………………………………………………..

**James'****POV**

"Prongs! You're day dreaming again. Are you sure you got enough sleep or something, mate? And didn't you have to go to that Head Boy meeting?" Sirius' voice broke his thought of the girl with dark red hair who just walked past their compartment. James shook his head to wake himself up a bit and ran both hands through his hair.

"Ah shit. This is how it's going to be for a whole year. I'm fine, just not feeling the best."

"Ok just don't drop dead on me yet, I wouldn't have a clue in hell what to do with Moony not being here an all."

"Where is he anyway," asked Peter. Peter Pettigrew was short, quite large and much less attractive compared to the other two boys. He had mousy hair and a pointed nose.

"Wormtail I swear to God you get dumber by the minute. What was last night pumpkin?" Sirius asked.

James gave a small laugh and Peter took his time to answer, "Oh. Was it full moon already?"

The other two roared with laughter at the ignorance of their friend. Wormtail had never been the brightest boy and he was often the third wheel, if there was one in a group of four. Remus Lupin, also known as Moony, completed the Marauders. He was the mature one out of the four and was… well… you guessed it, a werewolf. This often meant he would miss school for 2-3days in a row as he had to recover from his painful transformations. Together, the four boys created havoc when it was most inappropriate.

"Did Evans get head girl?" Wormtail asked.

"Yeah," James replied.

"You can finally have a civil conversation with her Prongs. How long have you liked her? 6 years or something…" asked Sirius.

"Something like that. I might be able to catch up with her. Later guys", and with that, James opened the door to the compartment and sprinted up the walk way of the train, almost knocking over a bunch of second years.

"Evans! EVANS!"

"What Potter?"

"I take it you're going to the meeting; now that I'm head boy I thought we might as well go together, you know, make a good impression or something."

"Whatever."

"Now Now, no need for that tone I was trying to be nice."

"Cool, now let's just keep walking. Oh and when we're in the meeting, I would suggest that you don't use any swear words, you know, make a good impression or something," and with that, she turned around and began to walk towards the front of the train, James smiling to himself behind her.

_Women.__ Can't live with them, can't live without them. I definitely can't live without this one…_

Two minutes later they both reached the compartment nearest to the front of the train and Lily turned around to face James.

"Don't say anything unless I tell you to or you're asked a question, got it Potter?"

"Woah, Ease up turbo. Since when am I second in command?"

"Since I know what I'm doing and you are new to the job."

"What? So you've been head girl in your past life or something… You're really not making sense here, Evans; it's starting to scare me."

"No, _Potter_, Stop being so… Stop being yourself! I have been a prefect for two years and I have done this stuff before."

"Ok, Evans, I'll shut my mouth," James rolled his eyes.

"Good boy."

They both entered the compartment and sat down in the only two unoccupied seats across from each other. There were eight other people, four boys and four girls, each in their fifth year sitting in the taken seats.

"Hey everyone," Lily began, "Firstly, I have to do this it's compulsory, but congratulations on becoming prefects. My name's Lily Evans and this is James Potter-

_Ha! She had to say my name._

-and we are your head girl and boy this year. Obviously each of you have shown leadership abilities in and out of class over the past four years. As a prefect you have certain responsibilities and authority over others however, this is not to be taken lightly or abused. This system has been running at Hogwarts for centuries and it would be a shame to be the ones who abuse it."

"Too many 'abuses' in that sentence, Evans, too many", interrupted James, making Lily glare at him. Some of the prefects suppressed a giggle and James smiled like he always does when he see's Lily frustrated with him.

"But we're not here to yell at you or punish you or anything", she continued as if not interrupted, "You were each given a piece of parchment, that has your rules and responsibilities on it so take time to read that. Now all you have to do is patrol the corridor of the train and make sure people aren't using magic, etcetera. If there are any problems, feel free to talk to me or James and you may go".

_She had to say it again!_

The eight prefects slowly filed out and the compartment was soon empty apart from Lily and him. After a minute of silence, James finally looks up to find Lily staring at him.

"Now what do we do?" he asks.

"Did you not read the letter we got sent?"

"Nah just got the sweet badge from inside. Its pretty cool looking isn't it. Mum was well stoked. She thought I was still a trouble maker at school."

"I don't blame her".

"I was joking, of course I read the letter and excuse me, I only got 6 detentions the whole of last year. I mean, even _you_ got a detention last year. Oh yes, Evans, I heard about your detention".

"How? I didn't think many people knew!"

"Looks like you were wrong doesn't it?"

"Mm."

"Do we have to sit here the whole train ride?" he asked.

"Something like that, unfortunately."

"Come off it, Evans. I'm not that bad anymore, even you said it to your mates at the end-of-term feast last year," he said, leaning back in his chair and messing up his hair with both hands.

…………………………………………………………………

**Lily's POV**

_Look at him… He thinks he's so good sitting there making his hair all messy with his head boy badge. It's a wonder his fat head could even fit through the compartment door._

"How did you know that? _Do you know EVERYTHING_" she said, giving him yet another look of disgust.

"Ha, unlike you, I have connections, Evans."

_Whatever._

Lily turned to stare out the window, anything to avoid conversation with James. But after five minutes, James decided to start up another conversation.

"You know what Evans; you'd make a good teacher. With your little prefect speech before, it was rather touching."

"I thought you said you aren't that bad anymore. Seriously, you are so full of yourself it's not funny."

"Well you best get used to it darling, because we even have our own bathroom to share when we get to Hogwarts…"

……………………………………………………………

"And finally, it would be wonderful if you could put your hands together for our new Head Boy and Head Girl, James Potter and Lily Evans. Feel free to congratulate these two students and I'm sure they will do well in leading Hogwarts to a fine year. Tuck in".

Dumbledore finished his speech and looked at James and Lily who were on his left. He gave a warm smile- the smile only Dumbledore could possibly give- and motioned them to the door behind the teachers table.

Lily turned and walked around the teachers table and opened the door. She held it open as James walked in, followed by Dumbledore. When the three of them were inside, Lily closed the door and Dumbledore started to speak.

"I wanted to take the time to firstly congratulate you both on gaining the head positions. I, along with the other staff members, believe you two fit the build and wish you the best throughout the school year. Now unfortunately you don't get to join your peers in eating the feast but you will get to, so no need to panic," said Dumbledore, seeing the look on James' face. "You both now need to fill out some forms and then patrol the corridors after the feast because some children cannot resist using magic after going for so long without. Lily, you take the Gryffindor tower and James you head over to the dungeons and patrol the Slytherins. You also get to share a small common room and bathroom, which is on the seventh floor down the third corridor. The password is Acid Pops. Try not to forget it. I shall speak with you soon. If any trouble arises, feel free to contact me," and with another smile, he turned and moved swiftly through the door they entered.

They both stood there for a moment. Lily was digesting everything Dumbledore had just said and James was staring at his feet.

_Is__ he nervous?_

"Potter!"

He looked up. They stared straight into each others eyes for a few seconds before he looked down again.

_What the bloody hell was wrong with him?_

"Maybe we should get these papers done," she said slowly, still not taking her eyes off him.

He moved over to the closer of the two desks which each had a quill and a few pieces of parchment. Lily then slowly moved to the other one and sat down in the chair. She began to read the piece of parchment in front of her, every minute or so looking nervously at James, wondering what was wrong with him. After signing the parchment on the very last page, she looked up again to find James looking back at her.

"You done?"

"Sure," I replied.

"Well let's get to it then, Evans."

"Are you serious? You have just spend half an hour sulking and now all of a sudden you're fine. You've got issues, Potter. Serious Issues."

"Don't talk about what you don't understand, Evans." His voice was starting to become louder and it made Lily uncomfortable.

She stood there, just staring at him.

_He isn't that bad looking. Wait, now that I think of it, him and Black are probably t__he most hansom boys at Hogwarts…_

It was now her turn to look at the ground. She felt stupid and embarrassed for having a go at him. Although she would never say it to his face, she had been wrong. He was right, she doesn't understand.

"I'm sorry," is all that Lily could say.

_This is weird, too weird._

And with that, he turned and walked out of the opposite door which leads to the dungeons. She ran after him but by the time she had reached the corridor outside he was nowhere to be seen. Lily wanted to set boundaries with him but she never meant to hurt his feelings.

_But what was seriously wrong with him? We have always had a love to hate relationship and tonight was just ordinary behavior __for us_

After standing there for a good minute she turned on her heal and headed towards Gryffindor Tower. She was waiting there for only another 10 minutes when the first group of first years, looking nervous and excited, came. She smiled at the Gryffindor prefect leading the group and he smiled back before leading them through the portrait of the fat lady. Another 10 minutes later, it appeared that all of the Gryffindor students had gone into the common room and Lily started to slowly make her way to the seventh floor.

**James' POV**

_Shit, I'm hungry._

He was approaching the door to the Prefects common room and when he reached it, muttered 'Acid Pops' and it flung open. Inside was like nothing he had ever seen. The inside was scarlet and gold, obviously because both Head Boy and Girl and in Gryffindor. There was a long lounge chair towards the back with at least ten gold fluffy pillows on top. There were also two single chairs each with a table in front of it for doing school work. Next to the door was a long narrow table filled with the same food that was at the feast and opposite it on the other side of the wall was a door- it must be the bathroom. Thinking he'd look at that later, he grabbed a plate off the table and was just about to put some roast pork on it when the door swung open. It was Lily.

"Oh. Um hey again," she said, she looked upset now.

"Hi."

He continued putting food on his plate and he could feel her eyes on the back of his head. If there was ever an awkward silence, this was it. He walked over to one of the chairs and sat down with his plate, the whole time avoiding her gaze.

_I have to say something, I hate seeing her like this. And it's all because I snapped back at her. James you brat__…_

"Evans… I- I'm sorry I yelled at you. It was really unnecessary. It wasn't your fault and I feel like an idiot now."

"Forget about it."

"Don't be like that. I know I can act like an idiot and stuff but I really am sorry."

"It wasn't you. It was me. I should have minded my own business. I didn't mean to get you even more upset or angry or whatever you were."

James smiled. "So, friends again?"

"Oh I don't know Potter, were we ever actually friends?"

"Boarder line friends I guess."

She laughed.

_God I love that laugh…_

"Are you gonna eat?" James asked.

"Oh, no I'm not really hungry."

"Is there something wrong with you, Evans? You normally eat the most out of the girls."

"How do you know my eating habits, Potter?"

"Oh me and the marauders always watch girls eat. It's quite funny actually. The alright one's each heaps and the bitchy ones eat hardly any."

This made Lily laugh again. This would have to be the first conversation the two of them have had that's actually civil.

"So, that means you're calling me alright, doesn't it?"

"We can make exceptions," he said, abandoning his dinner and looking up at her with a cheeky smile.

"Oh! I am insulted. And don't give me with that Mr. Potter smile. That's the smile you wear when you're up to no good."

"So, that means you girls must look at our smiles. I'll inform the boys. Maybe we might be able to make a few new ones to confuse you and your lady friends," he replied. This time he ran a hand through his hair than put both hands behind his head and crossed his legs on the table in front of him.

"I think you and the marauders have an obsession with each other. Seriously, I never see you and Sirius apart."

"Correction, I have not been in Sirius' company for… let's say… eight hours."

"You're a smart ass, I hope you know that."

"No, Evans, no! You never turn to using profanities. I thought you, being yourself, would know that. But I'll take the compliment anyway."

"And there he goes again," she said, more to herself than to James, "It's getting late and I still need to catch up with the others."

"True. But can you wait and leave five minutes after me. I just don't want to be seen in public with you. No offence, it's just I have a reputation and I wouldn't want to spoil it on the first day of term. Maybe next week or something, but definitely not on the first night," Seeing her face, he quickly added, "I'm joking, Evans. No need to lose sleep or anything. Geez, women," He rolled his eyes.

"Hey! That wasn't very nice!"

"Ha ha, I know. Let's do this then shall we?"

And together they headed towards Gryffindor tower. When they got inside, Lily went towards the girl's dormitories and James started to climb the stairs to the boys. When he reached the final landing, he opened the door to find the rest of the marauders still awake.

"Where have you been you old shagger?" shouted Sirius, and the rest of them laughed.

"Stupid Head Boy shit, you know how it is," he replied.

"Oh, but we don't know how it is. You see, I've never been head boy before, Prongs."

It was James' turn to laugh. "And you never will be."

"Well done, mate. I had this feeling you might get it," James recognized that voice… Remus must have arrived.

"About… Bloody… Time… You… Decided… To… Show… Up!" James ran over to the bed he was sitting on and jumped on him.

"Easy, I'm still a bit sore. Get this; I arrived at the platform three minutes late. Spewin' I was. So I had to apparate. And it's not easy when you have spent the last night eating wild animals."

They all roared with laughter, everyone except Peter, who was in his own world.

"Sucks to be you mate."

"So James, the guys were just saying you were with Lily," Remus said with a smirk on his face.

"And…"

"Well, how many times did you ask her out?"

"I didn't ask her out ok! I haven't since last year."

"But it's only the first day of term. You have a full year ahead of you…" Sirius quickly added.

"Whatever Sirius. I'm going to sleep. Night everyone," and James got dressed and climbed into his four poster bed, listening to the others conversation.

"James?"

"What?"

"Did you make a move or- or anything?"

"No Sirius, I didn't try and jump her or anything. Just drop it ok!"

"You're no fun. Good night Pumpkin."

………………………………………………………………

BANG!

James sat upright in his bed as his ears started ringing. He could see bright blurs and movement. Grabbing his glasses off his bed-side table and putting them on, he noticed it was Sirius who was moving.

"Fucking women! I swear to God whoever did this is going to get my fist in their face," he yelled as he ran out of the compartment after the cause of the bang.

"Fireworks… On the first day of term? What time is it?" James heard Remus mumble from somewhere on his left.

"I don't know. I'll be back. I need to make sure Sirius doesn't kill anyone… Too much paperwork," answered James.

He swiftly moved down the stairs and was at the bottom when he realized Sirius had someone in a body binding curse. Looking harder, he saw that it was Lily's best friend, Emer.

"Why!?" Sirius was yelling.

"Sirius, shut your mouth before we all get busted," she said back.

"Oh we all aren't getting busted, Emer. You are the only one that's getting in trouble tonight."

"Oi! You two Stop flirting and get to bed!" James looked to his right to find Lily standing at the foot of the Girls Staircase. James quickly messed up his hair with one of his hands.

"I wasn't flirting with him, Lily. Do you really think I would stoop that low?" Emer replied, more to Sirius than to Lily.

"Oh it wouldn't surprise me," she said back, "You've always thought he was the best looking in the entire school!"

"Well that makes them both, Evans," James said. "Oh yes Sirius, I heard you over the summer in your sleep." He now had a smirk on his face. Although James and Sirius were best friends, they wouldn't pass up an opportunity to embarrass each other.

"You can talk Prongs. You've loved Evans since the very first time you saw her. You know what he said when he first saw you Lily? He goes… 'Wow, she's absolutely beautiful'."

James could feel himself going red. He quickly looked away and he could feel Lily's eyes on the side of his face.

"But she already knows this doesn't she, James," he continued, "I think you've dated every girl in our year except her."

"Shut up Sirius." For a moment James thought he had spoken without even moving his lips, but to his utter amazement, it was Lily who told Sirius to shut up.

Everything went silent. It was like somebody had pressed the stop button on the remote… Or the mute button, either one. James was staring at Lily… Since when did she stick up for him in front of other people? Sirius had dropped Emer and she was attempting to break free from the ropes binding her.

"Black, you will untie Emer then go straight up to your dormitory and go to sleep," said Lily. She then turned to face James, "Potter, you will follow Black and make sure he does the right thing and as for you, Emer… What the bloody hell are you doing?"

More silence. Sirius began untying Emer straight away. James didn't want to move a muscle just incase Lily turned on him… Nobody messed with Lily when she was angry. When Emer was free of ropes and was standing, Sirius muttered a 'sorry', which Emer returned and headed straight for the stairs. James moved to the side to let him pass and with one quick glance at Lily, followed him up.

When James closed the door, Sirius turned around and looked at James. If looks could kill, He would definitely be dead.

"Those two girls… I swear to God are going to cop it one day!" he yelled.

"Don't blame it on me padfoot. Sorry, but I wasn't going to say anything to Lily. She'd go nuts."

"Nah it's ok. But Head Boy or not, we are getting them back!"

"Can we wait till tomorrow at least?" asked a croaky voice which appeared to be Remus.

They two boys got back into bed and fell asleep straight away.

……………………………………………………………………

**Lily's POV**

"Lily, get up. Quick we're gonna be late for breakfast!" said Liz, poking Lily's shoulder.

"What time is it?" she asked in reply.

"7:30. Breakfast started half an hour ago."

"You guys go down; I think I might have a shower. Ill see you both in potions."

"Ok, see ya soon."

After having a long deserved shower, Lily slowly made her way to the great hall, being quicker than she thought she would be. She scanned the Gryffindor table and found Emer and Liz about half way along. When she reached them, they both became silent and when Lily looked around, she noticed they were sitting next to… the marauders?

"Morning Lily," said Remus.

"Erm, Hey," she replied.

Thinking that she better sit down, she climbed over the seat and sat between Liz and Remus. She glanced at James who was staring at her.

_This is way too weird…_

"So, who has potions next?" asked James before messing up his hair.

_Does he always have to do that!?!_

"Don't tell me you're doing NEWT Potions," Lily said, rolling her eyes.

"Got a problem?" Sirius shot.

"Yeah, I do. Is that ok with you, black?" Her temper was rising now.

"Lily! Calm down a bit will you," asked Emer.

"Hey, whose side are you on?"

Silence.

"Let's get to class shall we?" James quickly said, seeing the temper rise in Emer as well. They all got up at the same time and started to make there way out of the hall. On the way out, James winked at a group of fifth year girls who immediately started in a fit of giggles.

_He just can't help himself, can he?_

When they reached the great hall, they said goodbye to Liz and Peter who didn't do potions and headed through the door towards the dungeons.

"I hate this place. It gives me the shivers," Lily heard James say from behind her.

When they reached the classroom, the teacher was waiting out the front to welcome them. He told them to go in and stand at the front.

When the rest of the class arrived, the teacher entered the room and began to talk.

"In this class there will be seating arrangements. The desks are sorted in groups of two, one boy and one girl in each pair. Now I think that the head boy and girl should sit together, so Lily and James you can sit down the back. The rest of you can find a partner and take a seat."

Lily couldn't believe it. She was planning on avoiding James as much as she could and now look what happens. She slowly dragged her feet towards the back two tables and found James already seating down.

"Evans, we meet again," he said, smiling at her.

"Joy."

"Aw, why the long face?"

"Shut up Potter."

"Woah. Hang on a minute, darling. What happened to our civil conversation yesterday?"

"Don't start, ok! Just… Don't," she snapped.

"Sorry, Evans."

After one of the longest hours of Lily's life, the bell rang to signal the end of potions. The class slowly filed out and headed towards the greenhouses for Herbology.

The day flew by pretty quickly after potions and soon enough, Lily was sitting by the warm fire in the Gryffindor common room already starting her homework. Liz soon joined her with her pile of work, which was slightly smaller than Lily's.

"Thought I might find you here," she said smiling.

"Where'd Emer get to?"

"She's over there in the corner flirting with Sirius. One minute they hate each other, the next they're planning their wedding."

Lily laughed. Emer had had a thing for Sirius since before she can remember and even thought Sirius was a known player, Lily had a feeling he liked Emer too. "Oh well," she replied, "At least one of us has a love life. We'll stick together and be single for the rest of our lives, hey Liz!"

"I'm looking forward to it. Actually, you could get a guy… You could get the fittest guy in school if you really wanted to!"

"And who would that be?"

"James Potter."

"I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pol-"

"Well… That's not very nice now is it, Evans. I thought your parents brought you up a bit better than that," said James, cutting Lily off.

"What do you want, Potter?"

"Oh just came to talk to Liz; If that's alright with you, of course."

Lily felt a twinge of jealously.

_Why would he want to talk to my friend? Wait, I'M NOT JEALOUS!_

But something unexpected happened.

"Lily, may I please speak with you for a minute?"

Lily looked up. She hadn't heard that voice before. A tall boy with tanned skin, dark hair and even darker eyes was looking down at her. He was… Beautiful. But Lily had never seen him before. He had to be a Gryffindor, how else would he have gotten the password; and he looked way to old to be in his first year.

"Erm, sure. I'll be back soon Liz."

She looked over at Liz who gave her the thumbs up- _Wait, why is she giving me the thumbs up?_ Lily then looked at James. He looked… Sad? No, he wouldn't be. Ignoring his glare, she stood up and he led her to the corner closest to where Emer and Sirius were. He then sat down in one of the arm chairs. Lily sat down opposite, wondering who on earth this boy was and what he wanted.

"You're probably wondering who the hell I am."

"You've got that much right," she replied.

He laughed.

_Ooo__ his laugh was sexy._

"Well, I'm Seth. I was in the Heads compartment on the train."

"Oh. I don't remember seeing you," she replied.

"I often hear that line. Well, maybe not that line, but something similar," he said, smiling, "But I tend to keep to myself."

"Oh ok then. I take it you're a prefect then?"

"Yeah, I'm in my fifth year."

"Fair enough, so what is it you wanted to speak to me about?" she asked.

"Well ah; I'm not very good at this. Ok, Hang on. I wanted to know if you would like to come with me to the Ball."

"Ball? What ba-."

"They haven't advertised it yet. That's because the fifth year prefects are organizing it and the details haven't been finalized. So I wanted to get in early… If you know what I mean."

Lily didn't know what to say. It was like a dream come true. This could be her fairytale…

_About bloody time!_

"That… sounds like a great idea," she finally said, smiling.

"So, it's a yes?"

"Of course."

"Sweet. Now I know we don't really know each other but the ball won't be for at least a month. Anyway, I need to finish some stupid astronomy homework so I better leave you to it. I might talk to you tomorrow, yeah?"

"Sure. Um, see you around." And with a kiss on her hand, he walked up the boy's staircase.

Lily stood up. She couldn't stop smiling for some reason. He was perfect, and they were going to the ball together!

_Wait until I tell Liz!_

She reached James and Liz who were sitting opposite each other in complete silence. James was looking at her and Lily got the feeling that he was watching the whole conversation between her and Seth.

"So Lily, who was that spunk," asked Liz.

"His name's Seth."

"Oooooh he has a sexy name! It matches his face!" she replied, then started in a fit of giggles.

"What did he want then?" James finally said something.

"He- he asked me out."

"Are you serious? Wow! Please tell me you said yes!" Said Liz.

"Yeah, I did. Happy Liz!" said Lily, starting to laugh as well. In fact, she couldn't wipe the smile off her face.

"What's all this laughing about?" It was Sirius, holding hands with Emer.

"Oh not much… Just that the sexiest boy asked Lily out and she said yes!" screamed Liz, making a bunch of first years look nervously over their shoulders at them.

"Oh," is all Sirius could say. It was like the whole world stopped. Lily was looking at Sirius, who immediately spun his face around to look at James. Nobody moved for at least a minute before Emer finally said, "Well, it's been quite a long day, let's get to bed Lily and Liz."

"Goodnight everyone," said Liz and both her and Lily stood up and made their way towards the foot of the girls stairs. When Lily reached them, she turned around to give one last wave to James and Sirius. But something was wrong.

Sirius gave her a look of utter disgust and James was looking at the ground.

_What have I done this time?_

And thinking it was nothing, she turned on her heel and dashed up the stairs.


	2. Why you shouldn't fly alone

**a/n** I even surprised myself with how fast I updated! Thanks to everyone who read my first chapter, but I still haven't gotten any reviews! Even if it's just a short 'that was great' or 'learn how to write' haha. But I am really interested in what you guys have to say.

I wrote this one on the train when I was going into the city, so it's only short.

**Disclaimer:** JK Rowling owns everything.

"What the hell are you playing at," screamed Emer when I reached the top of the staircase and opened up the dormitory door.

"What are you talking about," I yelled back, trying to sounds innocent. This wasn't hard, as I really didn't have a clue what I was getting in trouble for.

"Don't try and act dumb, Lily! You always do this, ALWAYS!" she replied.

"Seriously Emer, I don't know what you're talking about," I said, trying to lower my voice in hope that she lowered hers.

"Did you see his face? Or were you too busy drooling over that tall, tanned idiot?"

"Who's face? _What are you talking about_?"

"James."

"What about _him_?"

"What about him? Oh the fact that you just ripped out his heart, through it on the floor and kicked it round a few times."

Lily glared at Emer, not sure what to say next. Why would she care about James? And surely she isn't being serious about him anyway. James Potter doesn't have a heart! "No I didn't, if this is about me saying yes to Seth, you're making a big deal out of it."

"Oh is his name Seth? He must have done some real sucking up to get a name like that… look at him!"

"What do you mean?"

"Guy sees a girl that's older and popular, asks her out on a date. She says yes. He plays along for a few weeks to impress his friends before saying 'I think it was best when we were friends', and you never see him again. Or when you do, it goes all quiet and awkward. "

"You're wrong about him! Plus you don't even know him, and you're starting to sound like Sirius."

"Well maybe Sirius is right! And I think someone owes an apology to James," Emer said, before turning around and climbing in her four poster. But Lily wasn't finished.

"I'm not saying anything to James! He's rude, immature and has a head bigger than a hippogiff!"

"You're wrong about him. Plus you don't even know him, Lily. He's changed a lot you know! He changed a lot _for you_, but you're too busy with other stupid stuff to see it."

"Guys! Can we stop this, please?" Interrupted Liz. For a moment Lily had forgotten there was anyone else in the room apart from her and Emer.

"Fine," Lily said, and she too climbed into her four poster bed. But she couldn't help think about what Emer had just said. _Right, James had changed, but every boy matures around that age. It's just natural… James still has a lot of work to do. What was Emer talking about anyway? It's not like she had led James on or anything.__ James and I have never been close. In fact, we loathed each other. Ok, we have become better over the last year or so, but whatever __was going through Emer's head, she was wrong!_

Lily finally dosed off…

**James' POV**

"Mate, are you coming?"

"I think I might just stay here for a bit eh," James replied.

"No, you won't," said Sirius, "I'm not going to just leave you here after what just happened."

"It was nothing, Sirius. Really…"

"That stupid… Bitch should have just ripped out your heart and stabbed it several times with her wand. It probably would have been less painful."

"I said it was nothing, ok?"

"Fine; But you need to start sticking up for yourself. Let's get out of here," He finished.

That night James had the worst sleep possible. He dreamt of flying hearts with about 10 wands through each.

The week passed by slowly, like any school week would, and James hadn't spoken to lily since that night in front of the fire. In fact, he had barely seen Lily. It was the weekend; the only time that James had enough time to jump on his broom and go for a good fly. But as he mounted his broom up over his shoulder and was walking through the common room, he noticed a group of excited girls huddled around the notice board.

_What the hell are they all giggling about?_

As James approached the sign, one of the girls turned around, jumped three foot in the air with a squeal, and then ran off. 'Women,' James thought, as a bright fluffy sign caught his eye.

It read:

_**Hogwarts Ball**_

_Your chance to show off your dancing skills in front of the whole school._

_Place: Great Hall_

_Date: October 31__st_

_Time: 7:00 pm for 7:30pm start._

**_Hope to see you all there_**

_Great. A ball… What more could go wrong this week?_

Deciding he would put the Ball out of his mind until a week before it, he continued on his path towards the grounds.

Having had no time on his broom for over two months, James finally felt alive when he kicked off from the ground on the Quidditch pitch. He slowed started to ascend and soon he was 10 meters high, 20, 30, he was higher than the grand stands. He loved the feeling of the wind in his hair as he started to circle to field.

After about half an hour of flying around aimlessly, he decided to practice catching the snitch. He steadied himself and the broom, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the walnut-sized golden ball he stole all those years ago. He let it go; the snitch hovered for a second or two, and then shot of in a different direction.

James gave it a two minute head-start before flying around to try and catch it. On the fifth time he caught the snitch, he stopped in mid-air for a rest. But suddenly, all he could think about was Lily. He liked flying, as it would make him forget about everything else, except this time it was different. He smiled to himself when he thought about the way her hair fell perfectly around her face, her smile that any guy would die for and those beautiful green eyes…

_But she said yes to him._

Hatred built up inside James which even surprised himself. He had never been one to care about who Lily dated, but he had a feeling this guy meant something to her. And Sirius was right… She did break his heart.

As light drops of rain started to get heavier on his face, James threw the snitch as far as he could in anger. He dived, deciding this time he wasn't going to give it a head start, but something went wrong. His hand slipped as he reached for the snitch, causing him to fall, hanging by the other. So there he was, hanging by one hand in mid air. James now hated himself for being so stupid. Never before had he fallen off his broom in training… It was the boy. The way he walks around like he owns the place. James was just confused and angry.

_Stop being so wreckless, you idiot!_

He tried to mount his broom by swinging his leg up, but the heavy rain and his lack of concentration made it virtually impossible. He was too weak, too angry…

Then he was falling… And everything was black.

_……………………………………………………………._

_I'm dead._

Every bone and muscle in his body was aching.

_No, I'm not dead… there's too much pain to be dead._

He opened his eyes, which felt like they had put on a serious amount of weight in a sort amount of time, and looked around. It was nightfall… He must have been there for hours.

His first attempt to get up was unsuccessful. There appeared to be a sharp pain in his rib cage. His second attempt to stand was as good as his first. He could taste blood in his mouth this time. He put his hand to his and, instead of it being rain which he thought it was, realized it was blood.

_Not the face… Anything but the face!_

Third time lucky, he managed to stand, sway dangerously, and then start to slowly make his way back towards the castle. A good fifteen minutes later found James in the entrance hall, covered in rain, mud and blood, to the sound of hundreds of students eating dinner. But he heard voices… Closer voices.

"I'm not doing it, Sev!" He knew that voice.

"You always let me down!" And with a twinge of annoyance, he realized he knew that one too. But why was Lily talking to Severus Snape?

It all happened within 10 seconds. Pain shot through his right leg, causing him to yelp and bend over in pain. As he looked up and saw Lily looking at him, mouth opened in shock, he began to see dots.

**Lily's POV**

"I told you befo-…" But she cut herself off. She thought she heard a noise, and when she looked up, she realized she wasn't mistaken. James Potter, Soaking wet, dirty and covered in blood, stood staring at her.

She gasped.

And with one last look at Lily, James' eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell to the ground…

Unconscious.

_**a/n:** So how did you like this one? I actually enjoyed writing it. Sorry it's so short, but I kinda wanted to make it a cliffy… I tried to give more about what the characters are actually thinking this chapter, and will try and do the same for the rest of the story. And that's my life story… Please review!_

_Jo_


	3. The importance of Friendship

**a/n** There you go, another chapter. Lucky I'm on school holidays and have nothing better to do! This chapter took me ages for some reason. I think it might be the fact that I did it in sections… For example, my dog went missing! Lol, but she's back now.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything, ok!

…………………………………………………………

**Lily's POV**

Lily stood there. She didn't know what to do, let alone why James was covered in… Blood.

"Wh-what should w-we do?" She managed to say.

"He probably deserved what he got. He definitely had it coming to him," Severus replied.

Lily shot him a disgusted look. Yes, she didn't particularly like James, but she wasn't going to just leave him there. She started to walk over towards the lifeless body, just as the doors to the Great hall burst open and students began to file out. Lily heard a scream, it seemed so distant…

She was now kneeling at his body. Her hands wouldn't stop shaking and she couldn't concentrate.

"What the bloody hell happened," came Sirius' voice from the middle of the crowd, and before she knew it, he was kneeling beside her.

"H-he was there and th-then he just f-fainted," she whispered. She now had tears in her eyes…

_Why am I crying?_

"Shit! Someone get Dumbledore," He yelled. "Not you Lily. Stay, please," he added as Lily got to her feet.

"Oh, ok."

It seemed like no time had passed before Dumbledore arrived, Remus at his heels. He bent down, surveyed James' pale face and turned towards Lily.

"Ask the prefects to get all the students back to their common rooms, then come straight back to me," he finished.

"Yes, sir," is all she could say.

"Sirius," he continued, "Go ahead and alert Rosa in the Hospital Wing. I will meet you there soon after."

But Lily hadn't moved. She couldn't, her legs wouldn't allow her to.

"Lily, go!" Sirius said, and with a soft push on her arm, he ran towards the hospital wing.

It was like someone had turned the 'Go' button on in Lily's mind. She knew what she had to do, so she started towards the crowd which was now pretty much the whole school.

"Prefects!" She yelled, "Prefects, come to the front."

Students from around the Great Hall started to make their way through the thick crowd and when they reached her, Lily began to speak, "Now, Dumbledore wants you to gather the students and take them to their common rooms straight away. Thanks."

They all nodded, not quite sure what was happening, and turned on their heels and began to speak to the crowd.

_Now, where'd Professor Dumbledore get to? Hospital wing!_

She walked as fast as she could without breaking into a run and was soon inside the Hospital wing. It was long and narrow, with a bed every few meters and pull around curtains to cover each ward. She squinted towards the end of the room where she could see movement and hear voices. When she reached them, Sirius walked over to her and pulled her into a bear hug.

"Lily, I never thought I'd ever say this, but I love you… As a friend!" He added, seeing the look on Lily's face.

"Woah, you scared me, Sirius," she said back, as he let go of her and smiled.

"You just saved my best friend, so I have the right to be nice to you."

"I didn't save him. I was just… there!"

"You're being modest, Lily."

"I think Mr. Black is correct," interrupted Dumbledore.

"Oh. Will Potter be alright?"

"Yes," Dumbledore replied, "A few broken bones. Nothing Madam Rosa won't be able to fix overnight.

_Thank God…_

"So, I think that special services to the school would be appropriate," Dumbledore said.

"No, Professor, you've got it all wrong. Seriously, I didn't do anything!"

And with a smile, he left.

After a few moments of silence, Sirius looked up at Lily, "How's you and Emer?"

"We-we haven't talked for nearly a week," she replied, looking at the ground ashamed of herself. "I thought she would have said something to you."

"No, she doesn't tell me much about the friend side of her life."

"Fair enough. This would have to be the longest relationship you've ever been in, wouldn't it Sirius?"

He laughed, "No, but it's the only relationship that's actually meant something."

Lily smiled. She had never met the warm, fuzzy side of Sirius. To her, Sirius and James had always been those guys everyone else wanted to be; Hansom, popular, smart and good at sport, trouble makers and most importantly… smart arses. Let's face it; they were good at whatever they did.

"He'd be really grateful, you know," said Sirius, interrupting the silence.

"How would you know something like that?"

"I've known James for years, Lily. Trust me, he would be. He's changed a lot you know."

Lily rolled her eyes. "So everyone keeps telling me."

"You can't ignore the truth your whole live," he continued, "one day you'll come to your senses and realize he _is_ the great guy everyone, but you, says he is," and he, too, left.

Wow, what is it? Pick on Lily week! I think everyone has taken their turn in lecturing her about how James is not as bad as he used to be. Well at least he doesn't curse anyone who looks at him anymore. He stopped that after the big accident with Sev—

"Broom!"

Lily spun around, almost forgetting that she was standing next to James Potter's Hospital bed. "What?"

"My broom. Where is it? I want my broom!"

"You never had your broom with you," Lily replied, thinking it was just the side affects of the medicine he was taking.

"No. I definitely had a broom," he replied.

"Potter, you weren't holding one when you- when I saw you last."

"Evans?"

"Yes."

"Is that you?"

"Last time I checked, I was Lily. But yes, I have been known to go by Evans."

He laughed, which turned into a cough. "Ouch."

"Are you alright?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing, actually," he answered, "What are you doing here?"

"What? I just happened to save your life, Potter. How dare you ask what I'm doing here?" A little exaggeration never hurt anyone…

"You couldn't resist not being near me, could you Evans."

"Yeah, and a Centaur never changes its views," and like Dumbledore and Sirius, she turned around and walked out.

……………………………………………………….

**James' POV**

James was sitting in his hospital bed behind his large pile of 'Get well soon' cards and presents, listening to the rest of the marauders argue. It was only yesterday that he fell off his broom and he was itching to get out of this place. His broom had been lost, Sirius, Remus and Peter had gone looking for it early this morning. When James found out, he actually had tears well up in his eyes. But you can't cry over spilt potion…

"You're takin' the piss!" yelled Sirius.

"None of that language, Mr. Black!" shouted Madam Rosa.

"Sorry, Madam," and with a wink at Madam Rosa which made her blush, Sirius turned back around to Remus. "Basilisks aren't made when a chicken egg hatches under a toad!" he whispered.

"They are, Sirius. Read _Fantastic Beasts and where to find them _by _Newt Scamander_," Remus replied.

"That's dumb! That could happen in a muggles backyard. Imagine waking up one morning to find a dirty great big snake in your bloody lawn!"

"Well, you wouldn't really think about it too much, considering you'd be dead," James said.

"So you believe him, then?" asked Sirius.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, mate, but it's true. I thought you were supposed to be smart."

"So much for my best mate! You're supposed to stick up for me. Plus, I thought it was just a stupid saying to make your kids not go near toads or something."

The other three roared with laughter, causing Madam Rosa to glare at them again.

"How long have you got here still, Prongs?" asked Remus.

James looked at the clock on the wall, "Minus 13 minutes."

"Let's get out of here then. We've already been in here 13 minutes too long!"

After a very meaningful thank-you to Madam Rosa for fixing James, The marauders left the Hospital. They had half a day to run a muck before the school week started again.

"So, where do you wanna head to?" asked Sirius.

"Don't know, don't care," James replied.

"Fair enough, have you heard about the ball?"

His memory was slowly starting to come back, "Yeah, I think I read something about it yesterday. When is it again?"

"Halloween, perfect opportunity for the Marauders to ahh… let's see… Let everyone know we're here."

"But, they already know we're here," said Peter, with a blank look on his face.

"Honestly child, they invented the Unforgivable curses for people like you," Said Sirius, as James and Remus laughed.

"What he means to say, Wormtail my dear, is that we might give a few first years the fright of their lives," said James, answering Peter's question.

"You read my mind, Prongs," said Sirius.

"It was nothing, Padfoot," James replied, holding his head higher then he normally would.

"Are you two done, or would you like me and Peter to leave for a few minutes?" asked Remus.

"Good idea, Moony, but we'll need more than a few minutes…" Sirius said, smiling.

"You two are hopeless, shall we go now?" Remus asked, looking from James and Sirius.

"Sure, Common Room here we come," said James.

…………………………………………………………………….

**Lily's POV**

"Lil!"

Lily spun around to see who called her name. It was Emer.

"Emer."

"Lily, I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry! You know I didn't mean to yell at you. It was just in the heat of the moment and I'd been talking to Sirius about it and… I'm so so sorry!"

Lily smiled. "It wasn't just you. I was a bit weird. But I have thought about what you said and I think I'm going to tell Seth I can't go with him."

"No! Don't do that. You have to go out with him, and if it doesn't work, we can laugh about it afterwards."

"Ha ha, ok then."

"I heard you saved James." She said. This made Lily look up.

"I didn't save him, I was just there!"

"Sirius said you did a good job. He said any other girl would have freaked out and ran."

"Well I guess I didn't run, but I didn't do much. And as bad as Potter and my history might be, I wasn't going to leave him to die."

"Wow, _t__he_ Lily Evans _does_ have a soft side," she joked.

Lily couldn't help but laugh. "Let's make this Ball one to remember, yeah?"

"Absolutely."

Lily was so happy to be back on speaking terms with Emer, that she didn't notice that someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and was face to face with James; behind him were the rest of the marauders.

"Evans, I just wanted to say thanks for erm… Saving me," he said, looking scared.

_I love seeing this boy scared of me…_

"Well, it won't happen again, so take better care of yourself, Potter!" she said before turning, grabbing Emer's arm and walking away.

"LILY EVANS, YOU'RE IMPOSSIBLE!" he yelled after her…

………………………………………………………………

**A/n:** Hope you liked this one. Lily and Emer are finally friends again… Typical girls!

REVIEW!! REVIEW!! PLEASE!

Jo


	4. Homework, rock throwing and confirmation

**A/n:** Sorry about the wait! It's Christmas time and at my house… Christmas cleaning up. Also, I'm a bit disappointed with the amount of reviews I have gotten. I've had a few people put this story on alert and have had a whole heap of hits, but only one person has reviewed. I want to know whether I should bother continuing with this story. Yeah, I love writing it but sometimes people like to know that their work is appreciated. I'm not yelling or anything, just upset.

Apart from that, here is Chapter four!

……………………………………………………………………….

Week two slowly flew by and soon enough, it was Friday afternoon and Lily, Emer and Liz were sitting in front of the fire in the common room. The three of them had been given so much homework that they barely had time to do anything else.

"Look at those stupid first years!" Said Emer, "Wait till they're our age… Then they won't be running round playing stupid games."

Lily smiled. Emer always gets frustrated when she is doing her homework.

"What are you smiling stupidly about?" She spat.

"Oh nothing," Lily answered.

"It's Seth init?"

"M-maybe," She said, not really sure what to say.

"I swear to God I'll punch him if he hurts you."

"He won't…"

"I never thought I'd say this, Lily, but I think you'd go well with James," Liz joined in.

"James who?" she asked. It couldn't be Potter…

"Potter." She didn't just say that!!

"What the hell?" she said, looking up from her homework for the first time in the conversation.

"Everyone knows he likes you, Lily. He's liked you since forever," Emer said.

"Oh not you too," Lily said, looking up from her homework again.

"Yes, me too! You only like Seth because he's new."

"He isn't new!"

"No, what I mean to say is… You've known James your whole life and all of a sudden this quiet, shy hansom guy comes along and you're hooke—". Something flew past Emer's shoulder, causing her to stop mid-sentence. The three of them spun round to see a rock roll under one of them lounge chairs.

"Yeah, but what's Potter got to do with it?" Said Lily, ignoring the rock; she was definitely confused now.

"You're ignorant Lily."

"Thanks, Emer."

"Just promise me something."

"What is it this time?"

"That…"

"Go on," said Lily… This can't be anything good…

"Wait! You have to promise me first."

"No, that's not fair."

"Promise me!"

"Fine!"

"Say it!"

"I promise."

A large grin spread across Emer's face.

_Oh no…_

"If it doesn't work out between you and Seth…" she stopped again. Lily didn't think her smile could get any bigger… But apparently it could.

"What?" Lily yelled.

"…You have to go out with James Potter."

There was silence, in which Lily's mouth fell open.

"No way!" She yelled, throwing an empty ink bottle at Emer, which missed and shattered on the wall behind her.

But Emer didn't noticed, her and Liz had broken down in a serious fit of giggles for some unknown reason. Lily couldn't believe them.

When they had finally settled down, Lily folded her arms and stared at them both. "We've been through this before!" She said, "Potter is foul, immature and I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't even have a heart!"

"I thought you didn't mind him," said Liz.

"Oh I don't mind him, but what you two are doing is unbelievable."

"Lily just give the poor boy a chance!" Said Emer.

"Why would I want to do that for? He only Claims to like me because he knows I won't go out with him. He knows that I'm a challenge… He could get any girl in this school to go out with him except me! And that's never going to change!"

"Well… Liz and I have talked about this, and we think you're just playing hard-to-get."

"What! Who do you think I am?"

"We thought you and him had something going on behind our backs."

"What the hell? You two think me and Potter have some secret relationship where we shag in a broom cupboard while everyone else is sleeping?" Lily was starting to think her friends were going in sane.

Emer then laughed and said, "No, I'm joking about the 'going behind our back thing', but James isn't bad anymore, Lily. Why do you think Dumbledore gave him head boy? And when was the last time you heard about him suspending people in mid-air for no apparent reason."

_She has a point… But I'll never admit it!!_

"One date, that's all?" she finally answered.

"Just one. Nothing else. You don't even have to speak to him for the rest of your life if you don't want to."

"Fine."

…………………………………………………………….

**James' POV**

The four Marauders were sitting under a tree on the Hogwarts grounds. Remus was reading one of the ancient books that made no sense to the other three. James and Sirius were Levitating rocks with their wands and making them fly through the open Gryffindor common room window, while Peter sat watching them.

"No, no! That one's a bit too big," James told Sirius.

"Who cares?" Sirius replied. He pointed his want to the rock and it shot into the air. Peter jumped and let out a squeal, before the rock did several loops and flew through the window.

"Nice!" Said James.

"So that's who it was!" Said someone, which made all four boys turn their heads.

"Did we get you?" Sirius asked Emer.

"You sure bloody-well did!" Emer replied.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," said Sirius, getting up and pulling her into a one-armed hug.

"I did it," she said, ignoring his apology.

He stood there for a few minutes before smiling to himself.

"And THAT is why I'm going out with you, my dear," he finally said.

Emer opened her mouth to have a go at him but Sirius was too quick. He grabbed her face with both hands and started kissing her.

"Get a bloody room, Padfoot!"

This made him pull away, smiling at his mates.

"Wait a minute… You did what, Emer?" James asked curiously.

Emer quickly looked up at Sirius with a worried look on her face. Sirius quickly turned around to face James.

"It's nothing, really."

"You know the rules. The marauders are nice, and they share," James said.

"It's nothing, James," Sirius answered.

"Sorry Sirius, but rules are rules. I don't make them, I just enforce them… Well actually, I might have contributed to making them slightly, but I think we can overlook that," James answered back.

"Tell him then," Said Sirius, looking at Emer for help.

"Yeah, tell me!"

"Firstly, James, shut up! And secondly, you've got yourself a date with Lily Evans," she said, smiling.

"What?" he said in shock, "How did you get her to go out with me? Wait… Why did you get her to go out with me?"

Sirius laughed.

"It was easy," Emer replied, "I made her swear to go out with you if it doesn't work out between her and Seth."

"But how do you know it won't work between them?"

"Oh, Prongs, my dear boy, as a marauder I would have thought that you'd have figured out an answered to that question," said Sirius.

"Explain…"

"You see, Sirius here is an excellent potion brewer. And I know for a fact that you are too, James," said Emer, "Let's use it to our advantage."

"But what has Sirius and my ability to brew up any given potion excellently got to do with Lily?"

Emer turned around to face Sirius, "I thought you said he was no longer cocky?"

"We let it slip every now and then," Sirius said, answering Emer before turning back to James, "What she means to say is… Peter is going to have to kiss a boy," Sirius finished, giving Peter an apologetic look.

"I'm still not following."

"Fine!" Said Emer, "Lily and Seth go to ball, Lily finds Seth kissing another girl which is secretly Peter under the influence of polyjuice potion and Lily breaks up with Mr. Goody-two-shoes, who isn't so good anymore."

James sat there for a good thirty seconds, taking in what Emer had just said before looking up with a worried look on his face. "You can't do that!" Shouted James, surprising Sirius a little. "It's too risky! Plus you could hurt her!"

"I told you he wouldn't like the idea!" Said Sirius, turning on Emer.

But she ignored him and took a step towards James, "She doesn't have feelings for him, James. I know show doesn't. I've known her for six years. She just thinks he's good-looking, but hey, what girl wouldn't?" She finished, again ignoring Sirius' look of anger at her last few words.

"Ok," James said, looking to the ground. He was disappointed in himself- in his friends. That they would think he wanted to do that to Lily. Yes, maybe 2 years ago he would have; but not now. Not now that he had come so close to Lily, even if he wasn't her friend yet, he was closer than he had ever been. Perhaps soon she would even consider him as a friend.

"James," Emer said, tearing him away from his thoughts and making him look up again.

"Yes?"

"One last thing before I go… Do you love Lily?"

He could feel everyone's eyes on him, waiting for the answer. Even Remus and Peter weren't sure what James was about to say. James was sure Sirius knew the answer, but James has never said that he had truly loved her to his face. And all of a sudden, the words were already out of his mouth, as if he had been waiting six long years for someone to finally ask him…

"I've always loved her, Emer…"

…………………………………………………………..

**A/n:** So, we have the first Marauder project. Tell me what you think about it. It might sound like a stupid idea at the moment, but I know exactly what I'm going to write.

Please review this time?


	5. Lily is Impressed

**A/N:** Sorry it took 3 months to update!! I have had quite a busy start to 2008 but hopefully will be able to write more often. Because I wrote the last chapters a fair while back, it's hard to get into the story again so I apologize if I don't make something clear etc. Other than that, here is chapter 5…

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter.

**Lily's POV**

"What do you want to do about it then, Potter?" Said Lily. They were in the Head common room for the first Head boy- Head girl meeting. It was Sunday night and Lily really needed some sleep.

"Don't have one at all, that's what I want to do about it," he answered stubbornly, folding his arms.

"We can't just… Not have a Hogsmeade weekend; they've been running for centuries at Hogwarts. Imagine what the other students will think if the only time they were allowed out of the castle was cancelled. We'd be hated!" She said, trying to keep her voice calm. She knew why he was doing this; because he knew that Seth would ask Lily if she wanted to go with him.

"Fine, when do we have it then?"

"Next month," she replied.

"We can't."

"Why's that?"

"Too close to the ball. We don't want people fussing over Hogsmeade when there's a ball.

"Since when do you like dressing up in dress robes and dancing in front of people?" She asked angrily.

"Oh I don't really," he replied, "I'm just thinking about what's best for the students at Hogwarts."

_He's doing this on purpose. I swear I've never met anyone so…. Argh._

"No, what you're missing is the fact that people would want to go there to buy things for the ball," she answered, yet again trying to stay calm.

"Why would they want to do that? Just get their parents to send them everything. I have."

"You're being difficult."

"Evans, people don't want to go to Hogsmeade before you have a ball, period!"

"Potter,_ you _don't want to go to Hogsmeade before you have a ball, period!"

"Ok, Ok. Let's not fight about this…"

"Too late," She replied, "Fine, when do you think it's best to have the first Hogsmeade weekend, Potter?"

"This weekend," he said.

"We can't. There's not enough noticed."

"Who needs notice? You either go or you don't go. It's as simple as that. People will see the sign and think 'oh look, Hodsmeade weekend, about bloody time,' and keep walking.

"Fine."

"That means yes in my books, Evans," he said, getting to his feet.

"Where are you going?" she said, alarmed by his sudden urge to go.

"Well we've finalized the date, that's all we need to do."

"Sit down, _darling_; we still need to do the signs."

"Oh shit, I forgot," he replied, sitting down again. He took out his want, conjured four pieces of parchment- one for every house common room- and with another wave of his wand, there was writing on each.

"There you go, _darling_," and with that, he stood up again and left the room. Lily sat there looking at James' work. She was half annoyed at him, half impressed. Even Lily herself wouldn't have been able to do the signs that fast.

Standing up, she picked up the four signs and put her bag over her shoulder before making her way to the staff common room. When she got there, she knocked, and was surprised when Dumbledore opened the door.

"Good evening Professor. Why are you here?" She had asked before she had even realized, thinking about how rude she must have sounded.

"Why, Miss Evans, I often come to the staff room to visit my staff. Now what brings you here so late this evening?" He asked.

"Oh, sorry to disturb you, but I have the information about the next Hogsmeade weekend," she said, handing him three out of the four pieces of parchment.

He looked down at the parchment, before looking up at Lily over his half moon spectacles, "Ahh, Lovely. Thank-you Miss Evans, now I do believe it is nearly your bed time."

"That's ok Professor. I'll see you later then," and she turned around and headed towards the Gryffindor tower.

When she got there, she said the password to the portrait of the fat lady and proceeded inside. The common room was nearly empty, apart from a few people inside. Lily headed straight for the notice board, determined to pin the sign up and go to bed. But she had just put the sign up, when someone tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to jump slightly.

She turned around and was face to face with Seth, who was reading the sign she had just posted.

"Oh, about time there was a Hogsmeade weekend. They were a bit strict with them last year," he said, smiling at her.

_Dammit. Potter was bloody right._

She laughed nervously, not knowing what to say before he solved her problem for her.

"Your friend said that you should be back soon, so I thought I might wait for you. Is there something wrong with her, because if looks could kill, I'd probably be dead?"

"Oh I'm so sorry about her," Lily replied. She didn't know whether to tell him about James or not… "She just feels I should be dating Potter."

"Oh, that must have been what they were talking about."

"Who?"

"Just a few of my mates when I told them you were going to the ball with me. They said to watch out for James Potter because he has liked you for years or something."

"No, he doesn't like me. But anyway, are you going this weekend?"

"Yes, but I was hoping someone else could come with me," he hinted.

"I would love to," she replied, smiling.

"Oh, I wasn't talking about you," he said.

She looked at him in disbelief.

"No, I'm joking Lily. Of course I was talking about you. So, it's a date then?"

"Of course," she said laughing.

"Well if we don't speak, I'll see you then," he said with a wink, and walked over to the boys dormitories.

**James' POV**

It was Wednesday afternoon and James, Sirius and Remus just had potions. The three of them were walking towards the grounds, when Emer caught up.

"Keep walking, otherwise it'll make it obvious," she said, but James couldn't help but look over his shoulder to see Lily and Liz heading towards Gryffindor tower.

"Ohh, we have an update," said Sirius excitedly.

"I couldn't ask much just in case she suspected something, but I found out that she's going with him to Hogsmeade this weekend."

"Good, good…" Sirius replied.

"What are you guys doing this time?" asked James, slightly worried.

"It's ok, James, Lily won't come to any harm," Sirius replied.

But James' feelings must have still shown on his face because Sirius quickly added, "OK, if it makes you feel better, we will let Romeo and Juliet have their little date at Hogsmeade."

"Romeo and Juliet?" Said James with a confused look.

"Romeo and Juliet is a muggle play about two teenage Star-cross'd lovers whose untimely deaths ultimately untie their feuding house holds," answered Remus.

"Oh… But I don't want Lily to _die_," Said James, now looking worried.

Emer laughed. "James, Lily will be fine."

"What's gotten into you anyway, James?" asked Sirius.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is… Last year you would have given anything to piss Lily off and now you have gone all moshy on me."

"Maybe it's not my fault," he replied.

"Mate, no one said it was your fault. I just noticed it, that's all."

"Ok then," James said, looking at his best friend.

"Alright, if it makes you feel any better, we will let them go on their Hogsmeade date and no harm will come to Seth either."

James laughed, before adding, "You still got them dungbombs?"

Sirius smiled and said, "That's the James I like to see," before heading through the Oak front doors.

**A/N:** There you go. Wasn't as interesting as I liked it to have been but we are tending to see the soft side of James a lot. Also, I know he has been in all kinds of moods when he is talking to Lily. This is because he is pretty heartbroken that she would date someone she only just met, and James doesn't believe that he actually likes her for who she is, rather than what she looks like. At the moment, James doesn't know what to do.

Pleaaaase Review !


	6. The angry side of James

**A/N: **Here's Chapter six. It's short like the last one but enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter

**James' POV**

"So, where are we heading to first?" asked Sirius. The four marauders were walking down the path towards Hogsmeade. It was Saturday and James was so glad to get out of the castle that he almost felt as if he was in a good mood.

"Honeydukes?" asked Peter.

"Wormtail, you have much to learn," Sirius replied.

"Honeydukes is always second on the list of 'things to do' while we are in Hogsmeade. Have we taught you nothing, Wormtail?" James said, siding with Sirius.

"Why is it always second?" he asked.

"You see, The Three Broomsticks is a good place to start. But the reason Honeydukes is second, is because sweets weigh less then products bought from Zonko's Joke Shop and are therefore easier to carry," Sirius finished.

"Oh," is all Peter could say.

"You'll get used to it," Said Remus, patting him firmly on the shoulder.

"Yeah, it's alright pumpkin, it's alright…" Said James, doing the same as Remus.

"Ah, finally!" Said Sirius, opening the door of The Three Broomsticks and walking inside. The rest of the marauders followed, and sat at a table in the back corner.

"Who's shout?" asked Remus.

"I will," James answered.

"I'll help him," said Sirius, and they both stood up and headed towards the counter. "Swear to Merlin Peter is dumber than a doorknob sometimes," he said once they were out of earshot. But James wasn't listening. He caught a flash of red hair out of the corner of his eye which made his head turn to look at who it was. Lily, accompanied by Seth, was sitting at a table in the opposite corner to theirs. Jealousy shot through James' body as he watched her laugh at something he had said…

"James, are you even list--," but he cut himself off as he saw what James was looking at. "Mate, don't worry about him. Lily will see what he's really like. Just give it time."

James didn't answer. He was so angry at himself for not being what Lily wanted. He had tried so hard lately to get her to notice him for someone that doesn't just get anyone he wants. Someone who 

would care about her so much more than Seth, or any guy for that matter, would. Someone who was—

"Good morning James, what would you like today?" asked the woman behind the counter.

James whipped his head around, gave a fake smile and answered, "Four butterbeers thanks," before handing over his money. Sirius grabbed the butterbeers and with one more glance at Lily, James followed him back to the table.

"I've been waiting all summer for this," Remus said, accepting his bottle.

"Cheers?" said Sirius. As they all took a swig of butterbeer. But James was no longer in the mood for walking around Hogsmeade.

"I don't really feel the best, I think I might go and have a lay down back at the castle," James said, getting to his feet.

"You alright?" asked Remus.

"Yeah, mate, I'll be fine. It's just one of them headaches."

"You sure you don't want us to come?" asked Sirius.

"No. You three have some dungbombing to do," he replied.

Sirius laughed, punched him lightly on the arm before James walked out of the door. Soon enough, he was in the heads Common Room and took a seat right in front of the fire. He was so angry that his fingernails left marks on his hands from having a closed fist. James looked around for something to punch, but the only thing in site that would do any damage was an ink bottle. He picked it up and through it at the wall as hard as he could. Being full, it shattered and sent ink flying around the room.

Deciding he would clean it up later, he rested his head of the chair and was soon fast asleep.

**Lily's POV**

"Thanks for today, it was great," She said to Seth.

"I'm glad you had fun, because I did," he replied.

She smiled.

"Well, I guess I'll talk to you soon then?" she asked.

"Aren't you heading to the common room?"

"Not right now, I have to get a few things from my other room but I might be back later."

"Ok, see you around," he said before heading down a different corridor.



She slowly walked towards the Heads Common room, not passing many people because most of them were still in hogsmeade doing their last minute shopping. When she reached the door, she said the password and walked inside to find James asleep on the couch.

_What the hell is he doing here? Why isn't he in Hogsmeade causing all sorts of trouble like the marauders usually do?_

"James?" She said, unsure of what to do, "what happened to the wall?" she asked, noticing it was covered in ink. This woke him up and made him look round.

"Oh, it's you," he answered, looking away from her.

"Don't sound too happy now," she said folding her arms," Who else would it be, Potter?"

"I don't know," he said, facing the opposite wall, "maybe someone starting with a S."

"What has he got to do with any of this?" she asked.

"EVERYTHING!" he yelled, finally turning around to face her.

But something about him was different. He no longer looked like the James that walked around joking with his mates, there was anger in his eyes. He was shaking and when Lily looked down at his arm, she noticed it was covered in blood.

"W-What is wrong? P-Potter why are y-you bleeding?" she stuttered.

"Nothing is fucking wrong Ok!" he yelled, "Just leave me alone!" and he walked out of the same door Lily just walked in.

Lily stood there in disbelief, not knowing whether she should run after him or not. She had never seen James get so angry before. He was always the calm one in situations, it made Lily feel almost scared.

She decided to pack up her things and head towards the Gryffindor Common room where she said she'd meet Emer and Liz.

The next day Lily didn't see James at all, and when she asked Emer and Liz, they said they hadn't either. It was dinner time and the whole school was in the Great hall, apart from him. This made Lily worried…

_Worried? Why am I worried?_

But as thoughts of his whereabouts flowed through her head, she looked up and saw him heading towards the marauders who were sitting a few seats down from the three of them. He looked bad, with dark rings around his eyes and his tie not done up properly. Lily also noticed the cut on his arm looked red and painful.

"He doesn't look too well does he?" Emer said.



"I wonder what happened to him," Liz said, leaning over the table for a better look.

"I'm not too sure," Lily answered, trying to sound innocent, just as someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to see Seth smiling at her.

"Hey Lily, how was your day?" he asked.

"It was alright. Why didn't you meet me this morning after breakfast?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that. I… kind of got held up," he replied.

"What do you mean?"

"I was in the hospital wing… Last night after I left you someone let off about one hundred dungbombs right where I was," he answered, slightly embarrassed.

"Oh no are you alright?" she asked, shooting an evil look down at Sirius.

"Yeah I am now. I don't really remember what happened, just woke up in the hospital wing."

"You should have told me I could have come and visited you," said Lily, noticing that Emer kept looking towards the marauders then back at her plate, avoiding Lily's gaze…

"No, I didn't want it to be a big thing. Anyway, I'm off. Ill talk to you later," and with that, he stood up and walked back over to his friends.

"Emer," Lily said.

"Yeah?"

"What did they do?" she asked.

"What did who do?"

"The marauders."

"What do you mean? I'm not a part of their crazy plans," she said, sounding rather offended.

"Never mind," Lily answered.

And soon enough, it was the end of the week…

**A/N:** Ok, I bit of a different chapter but let me know what you think. I know that not much has happened with James/Lily YET, but be patient.


	7. The angry side of Sirius

**A/N:** Here's Chapter 7, enjoy. 

**Disclaimer:** I don't own HP.

"Lily!"

Lily spun around to see who had called her. Sirius… She rolled her eyes.

"What, Black?"

"I need to tell you that James can't patrol tonight," he said.

"Why can't he tell me himself?" she asked.

"He's busy…"

"Fine."

"Wait… So you're not going to ask any more questions?"

"No, if Potter can't patrol, he can't patrol."

"Oh… Ok then I'll catch you round I guess," he said slowly, before turning around and running up the marble staircase in the entrance hall.

_Men…_

**James' POV**

"Shut the hell up Wormtail!" said James in a loud whisper.

"Sorry!" Peter replied.

"Don't say another word, especially when there is people walking straight pas—" but he was cut off by running footsteps. "This has to be Sirius," he said as quietly as he could.

James was right. As Sirius rounded the corner, he slowed down and was staring at a spot about half a meter away from where James and Peter stood under the invisibility cloak.

"Hurry up Padfoot," James said, sticking his head out so Sirius knew where they were.

"Yes, mum," he replied, joining the two underneath. The three of them slowly started to make there way towards the dungeons, luckily not meeting anyone along the way.

When they reached a stone gargoyle with a chip missing from its left foot, James whispered 'Merlin's underwear' and it sprang to one side. The three climbed into a dark passageway and waited till the gargoyle closed the gap in the wall until removing the invisibility cloak.

"Lumos," Sirius said, holding his wand high.

"We really need to get a new invisibility cloak. That one's too small," said Peter.

Sirius laughed. "Wormtail, my dear, that cloak is one of a kind."



"How would you know?" he asked.

"Settle down. I know a special cloak when I see one."

"Sorry if I'm interrupting anything, but can we get a move on the moon is already out," James said, making the other two start walking.

James turned around to Sirius and whispered, "You don't have a bloody clue what a special invisibility cloak would look like, would you?"

Sirius grinned. "Nope, but it fooled him, didn't it?"

"You love all the attention," James said, rolling his eyes.

"Not so much the attention with old Pete. I prefer the whole admiration thing," he replied, smiling again.

"I thought it would be along those li—"

"Will you two hurry up?" Shouted Peter from about 20 meters in front.

"Ok ok, settle down, Wormtail," Sirius said.

The passageway slowly started to ascend and after about five minutes, the three climbed through a small hole in the side of the castle where the passageway ended. The night air was cool on James' face as they trailed the walls of the castle, being sure to keep out of view of any windows.

They were about ten meters away from the oak front doors when there was a sudden bang from right behind them, causing all three of them to be knocked off their feet from the impact. It took a few seconds for James' brain to start working… They could get caught if someone had heard the explosion, but his thoughts were interrupted by Sirius punched Wormtail in the arm.

"What… The… bloody… hell… is… wrong… with… you!?" said Sirius, but James heard a noise that sounded like the front doors of the castle opening.

"Sirius! Fuck up man someone's coming!" James hissed. It was now or never… James thought hard about a stag and nothing else. Soon enough, he was transforming. His arms grew longer, whilst his legs grew shorter. It wasn't painful, but he wasn't comfortable either. He opened his eyes to see a black shaggy dog next to him, but he couldn't see where Wormatil had gone.

But Sirius wasn't looking for Peter. In fact, he wasn't even looking at James. He was looking over James' shoulder in the direction of the front doors. James turned around to see what he was staring at, to find Lily outside with her wand pointing at them.

_Shit_

James didn't know what to do, but apparently Sirius did. He ran straight for James and bit him on his leg, causing him to fall down in pain.

_What the hell is he doing?_



Looking up at Sirius, he noticed that he was now gaining on Lily. He was growling, and after two fierce barks, she turned around and sprinted back into the entrance hall.

_That was too close…_

They both stood there, or in James' case, laid there, for a good minute after Lily had fled back inside the castle. Sirius gave a soft bark, indicating for James to follow. They reached the edge of the forest before Sirius stopped, turned around and transformed back into his self. James did the same.

"That was way too fucking close! I swear when I get my hands on Peter I'm going to kill him!" he yelled.

"What actually happened?" James asked, slightly panting.

"The git had his wand in his back pocket and it went off," he replied.

"I hope he remembered to pick it up," James said, suddenly worried.

"So what do we do now? Sirius asked.

"We need to find Wormtail before he gets himself into more trouble."

Sirius sighed. "Alrightttttttt," he finished, before they both transformed back into their unique animals.

They both started heading towards the whomping willow, Sirius in front, where they were to meet Remus and (hopefully) find Peter. When they reached the outskirts of the tree, they searched for a good twenty minutes for him, but were unsuccessful.

Another bark signaled James to follow Sirius again, and in another five minutes they were back inside the passageway. They transformed back into humans before Sirius punched the wall with his fist, yelped in pain and fell to his knees.

"You idiot," James said, before pulling his friend back to his feet. "What has gotten into you tonight?"

"That… Kid… I… swear…" but another yelp made him stop what he was saying.

"I think you might have done something serious to your hand, Padfoot."

"I don't care at the moment. Why the hell does he always have to run off like that? When things get a little rough or dangerous he drops his nuts," he yelled.

"I know but don't you think that you're taking this a bit too far?" James asked.

"No, I don't think I am James. He knows we can't get into that stupid tree unless he's there to push the knot! He knows that if one of us is in trouble, we are all in trouble. GOD DAMMIT HE KNOWS EVERYTHING… But he, yet again might I add, is the one to screw us all around."

"He's a marauder, Sirius," James reminded him.



"I know. But sometimes I wonder why the bloody hell we let him be one," Sirius replied, glaring at James.

"So… What to do now…" said James nervously.

"I'm not looking for that rat any longer. I think I might head to bed. You coming?" he added.

"Nah I think I might stay up a little longer."

"Ok then. You want me to stay up with you? He asked.

"No, I'll be fine. I'm a big boy now, Siwius!" said James in his best attempt at a baby voice.

Sirius laughed.

_Task one: Passed. Sirius is in a good mood again._

"Alright then. Take care of yourself, mate. Make sure you don't go out there unless you're transformed alright?" he said.

"Yes, mother. I promise I won't get eaten by Remus… Or anything else that's big and hairy… Including Peter when he's not transformed into a rat," he added, seeing the look on Sirius' face.

"Don't stay up too late," Sirius answered, before turning on his heal and walking back towards the dungeons.

James climbed back out through the entrance to the grounds and yet again, transformed into a stag. He walked around taking in his surroundings for about an hour before heading towards the outside of the great hall.

When he reached it, he sat down and looked through the window searching for the one thing that meant the world to him. After about 2 minutes, an anxious two minutes at that, the doors opened and a red-headed walked through and started patrolling the rows.

At this moment, James felt like everything was perfect. He sat there for hours, just watching her walk up and down between the house tables. He knew he wasn't wasting his time, because anytime spent near Lily wasn't wasted. In fact, to James, anytime spend near Lily was worth everything he had ever owned, plus more.

**A/N:** Sorry about the mushi-ness at the end lol. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I was thinking about how I should end it all day today and finally came up with something half decent. Anyway, let me know what you think.


	8. The missing wand?

**A/N:** Sorry about the last chapter… I forgot to warn you about the swearing!! I promise it wont happen again… Much. Lol. Well here is chapter eight.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter

"You bit me!"

"What the hell?" said Sirius. It was four in the morning and after sitting out in the cold for the whole night, James was wondering why his arm continued to throb.

"You… Bit… Me…" he said slowly.

"What are you going on about? And why the hell are you waking me up in the middle of the night?"

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful stag by the name of Prongs, who was casually minding his own business when suddenly, a big ugly hairy dog struck him on the arm. This all happened before the big ugly hairy dog turned on the one person that the stag was crazy about. From that day on the stag never saw his one tru—"

"Would you like some toilet paper?" Sirius interrupted.

"…Love. The End," Said James, lifting up the sleeve of his robe to reveal a large bite mark covered in blood… "Wait up… Why would I need toilet paper?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

"Oh… Just to wipe up all the shit you're dribbling," he replied, before picking up a pillow and throwing it at James' head.

James caught the pillow and threw it back at him.

"Quidditch doing you justice eh?" he said, smiling.

"…So, about you biting me…"

"Oh shit, sorry about that! But I really had no choice. I needed to scare her somehow, and the 'attacking the other animal then advancing on them' move normally works… Big crowd pleaser."

"It's not like it's just a tiny cut, Sirius," James replied.

"Ha! You think yours is bad," Sirius said, before showing James his once perfect looking hand. It was about one and a half times bigger then it's original size, with a deep blue colour from all the bruising.

"Fine, you win… But only just."

"Did you see Remus at all?" Sirius asked.

"Didn't see him… Heard him though," James replied.

"And Wormtail?"

"Not a trace. I went back and looked for his wand but there was no sign of it either," he said.

"Hmm," Sirius thought hard for a few seconds. "He could have died," he said slowly.

"We can only hope…" James said.

**Lily's POV**

"Lily! Wake up breakfast is nearly over!" said Emer, opening up the curtains around Lily's four poster.

"Arghh. What time is it?" She asked.

"Nearly 8:00… On a Monday. Why are you so tired?"

"I had patrol to do last night and James couldn't do it. Plus there were kids outside the castle so I had to stay overtime."

"You should have gotten me to do it, I told you that last time," Emer replied.

_Dammit!_

Lily could have done with Emer's help, now that she thought about it. She felt stupid for not thinking of asking her last night when Sirius told her James couldn't make it.

_What was wrong with James anyway?_

"Oh well," She replied. "I found a wand, I don't know who it belonged to but whoever it is will be in a bit of trouble."

"What did you do with it?" Emer asked.

"I gave it to Dumbledore; he's going to find out whose it is."

"Fair enough. Let's get breakfast before it's too late."

They hurriedly got dressed and rushed out of the common room. When the pair reached the marble staircase, Lily saw James walk through the oak front doors to the castle.

"Potter!" she called from halfway down the stairs.

He turned and looked at her before muttering a mere, "what?" He, yet again, looked tired, as if he hadn't gotten a decent night sleep in a month.

"Where were you last night?" She asked.

"Sick. Sirius was supposed to tell you," he replied, walking through the great hall doors just ahead of her and Emer.

"He did, I just thought that you might have been able to tell me yourself."

James turned around to face her; anger covered every part of his hansom face.

_Hansom….?_

"I was sick, Evans!" he said, not loudly, but with meaning.

She stood there looking at the back of his head as he walked over to sit with the marauders.

"Don't worry about him, Lily. He has been like that over the past few days," Emer reassured her.

Lily gave a fake smile to her best friend, before taking to spare seats right in front of them. The pair immediately started piling their plate with bacon and eggs and began to eat.

"Hey, Lily?" asked Emer.

"Yeah?" she answered with a mouth full of food.

"Um… I know that Monday afternoons we do homework, but I was thinking it would be pretty fun if we went and watched the Gryffindor Quidditch try-outs."

"Why's that," Lily replied, putting down her knife and fork looking confused.

"Well, Sirius is playing again this year and you could come and watch James if you liked," she said.

"Why would I want to watch James?" asked Lily, with a disgusted look on her face.

"Maybe because he's the best seeker Hogwarts has seen in century's… That's why!"

It was true, unfortunately. Lily didn't normally go to many Quidditch matches, particularly when Gryffindor was playing. It would only give James a reason to show off in front of her.

"I would, Emer, but I have too much homework to do," Lily finally replied.

"No you don't, you finished it all on the weekend. Please Lily! Just because you're going, it doesn't mean you have to watch James," She said, almost begging.

"Alright, alright… But don't get angry at me if this is the only time I step out onto that pitch when Gryffindor are playing. I swear if he tries anything I'm going to…" But she cut herself off, not knowing what exactly she would do.

"Great," Emer replied, smiling stupidly to herself.

"Hurry up Lily I think they've already started," Said Emer, closing the book Lily was trying to read on their way to the pitch.

"Oh no they haven't," said a voice from behind them. Lily didn't even have to turn around to know who it was. Instead, she just rolled her eyes and opened her book again.

"You wouldn't expect them to start without their star captain, James Potter, would you?" asked Sirius, before grabbing Emer's arm and pulling her into a deep kiss.

This left James and Lily standing next to each other in an awkward silence. Thankfully, Emer and Sirius stopped kissing and the four of them once again started walking towards the Quidditch pitch. When they reached the entrance, the girls made their way to the stairs, leaving James and Sirius to head into the change rooms.

Lily chose a seat at the front, with a good view of the northern goal posts where the trials were to take place. After about five minutes, James and Sirius walked out of the change rooms with brooms in their hands, followed by about 20 other students.

They stood in a group for at least five minutes, with James out the front instructing them with what to do. Soon enough, they were all flying in groups, some passing the quaffle, some hitting bludgers and the others defending the goal posts.

Lily had never fully appreciated the game of Quidditch, but now that she was taking notice of the players, she began to... That is, until James finally kicked off the ground and started to fly around on his broom.

"Sirius!" he yelled. "Ball me!"

Sirius, obeying James like a dog would his owner, threw the Quaffle as far as he could towards the other end of the pitch. James sat in mid air watching it for a second, before bending over double and making his broom shoot in the same direction.

All of the students were now watching.

"He isn't going to catch that!" Lily heard a boy say from on the pitch.

"Don't bet on it… You little bastard," Sirius yelled back.

And Sirius was right. James reached the Quaffle just before it hit the ground, catching it in his right hand, leaving his left to steady the broom. The students and crowd erupted in cheer… Everyone except Lily. She was again, half annoyed, half impressed.

_This kid is one of a kind…_

Emer was laughing next to her, "Now Lily, you _CANNOT_ tell me that that wasn't good!"

"It… Wasn't bad," Lily replied.

"Lily, that was all for you I hope you know that," said Emer.

Lily laughed. "No it wasn't, it was for everyone in the stadium."

"Believe what you want, but he only does stuff like that when you're here."

"Why? Because he knows that he's good."

"Well there's no denying he isn't."

"Why are we even talking about this!" She said, getting slightly angry. Emer must have realized this, because she didn't say another word until the end of the try-outs.

The rest of the trials were uneventful, apart from a second year getting rushed to the hospital wing after taking a Bludger to the face. James continued to show how good he actually was towards the end when they had a proper game and James was seeker. The game only went for two and a half minutes before he actually caught the Snitch.

But Lily was confused. Why would James act like a jerk to her, then try and impress her?

The students who trialed slowly started to make their way up to the castle, except for Sirius who waited with James. When they reached them, Emer ran over to Sirius and gave him a hug, then said to James, "He better have made it, James!"

"Ohh, I don't know about that. I think the Kid who got sent to the hospital wing has a little somet--" but he cut himself off after seeing the look on Lily's face.

"Shall we go back up to the castle?" Sirius asked quickly.

"Yeah but one question," Lily said, folding her arms. "Where are Remus and Peter?"

**A/N:** I hope you liked this chapter. It was difficult to write for some reason, but it's a little long than the last couple of chapters. Bit of a cliffy, sorry about that… But ill try and update ASAP.

Please Review… Also I wouldn't mind people giving me suggestions as to what they would like to see happen. I could always take your ideas into consideration!


	9. Devistated

**A/N:** Sorry about the delay, I've been pretty busy with school assignments and stuff. Just a warning about swearing in this chapter (sorry, but I had to!! Lol). And I have been asked why I rated this story M, and I thought it was a reasonable question and thought I might let you all know… Well part of it is for safety, but I was actually thinking about putting something else in. The only thing stopping me would be my ability to write something like that, without making it too corny. So if you have and ideas PLEASEEEE PM me. Otherwise, here is chapter nine.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter.

………………………………………………….

_(FlashBack)_

"_Shall we go back up to the castle?" Sirius asked quickly._

"_Yeah but one question," Lily said, folding her arms. "Where are Remus and Peter?"_

………………………………………………….

_Ah shit! This girl is too smart for her own good._

Sirius glanced nervously at James, before saying, "Funny you should ask… Because we were actually wondering the same thing," he said, not very convincingly.

"Well that's a bit weird, considering you two are their best mates," she replied.

"No, Lily. James and I are best mates. They are our… colleagues, if you will. Well at least Peter is," Sirius stated, with a smile on his face.

"I thought you liked Peter," Lily said, confused.

"Oh, we like him. We just came to the agreement that he's a… a drop kick."

James tried to suppress a laugh, while Lily stood there, not knowing what to do.

"Ahh, Lily Evans and James Potter?"

All four turned to see who called them. It was a second year Slytherin, who held out a piece of parchment with Dumbledore's hand writing.

It read:

_Miss Evans & Mr. Potter,_

_Your company would be greatly appreciated in the Heads Common room ASAP._

_Professor Dumblebore._

"Um, ok then. Potter?" Lily asked.

He nodded his head and the five of them headed back towards the castle.



The second year headed down towards the dungeons, whilst Sirius and Emer, holding hands, made their way to the Gryffindor common room. James and Lily proceeded in complete silence towards the Heads common room.

Dumbledore was already sitting on an armchair when they both climbed through the portrait. He motioned them to sit down on the lounge chair, before conjuring a plate of tarts and cakes on the table in front.

"Eat, please," he said, waving a hand towards the food.

Obeying him, they both took a slice of cake and started eating.

"I see you both got my note," he said. "Now I have called you to a meeting because of what Miss Evans found the other day."

James spun his head around to look at Lily, wondering what on earth Dumbledore was talking about. Lily, knowing he was looking at her, ignored him. Dumbledore reached into his long robes and pulled out a battered wand.

James' heart sank.

"Maple, twelve and a half inches, containing a Runespoor fang. Excellent for darker spells, which is what surprised me. I thought that Peter Pettigrew would have ahh, let's say… a more respectable wand," He paused. "But needless to say, I shouldn't judge one of my students on their wand. After all, he didn't choose it, did he? What I should judge him on is why he was out after hours, especially on that particular night, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore finished, resting his head on his hands and looking into James' face over his half-mooned spectacles.

James stared back at Dumbledore, with the feeling that he was somehow reading James' mind. Dumbledore knew about Remus and his condition. If he ever found out they were betraying his trust, they would be out of Hogwarts before you could say 'Shiiiiiit'! He was too scared to look at Lily. It was ok for him to be angry at her, but it killed him when she didn't speak to him for six years.

"James, do you have any idea why Mr. Pettigrew's wand might have been outside the castle after hours?" he asked.

"No, sir," he answered convincingly. James knew how to tell a good lie, there was no doubt about it.

"Ok then. Well do you have any idea why he has been absent during class time?"

"No, sir," he said again.

"Alright, now that we have got that sorted, James I do believe I need to talk to you in private," he said. "Lily, please wait outside for Mr. Potter."

Lily nodded, glanced at James before following Dumbledore's instructions.

Dumbledore then turned towards James and gave him a smile… But it wasn't the normal 'Dumbledore smile'. There was pain behind it.



"James, Voldemort has been at large lately. You know this, do you not?" he asked.

James nodded his head…

_What was Dumbledore going on about?_

"Now I know this is going to be a shock, but I wanted to tell you myself." He paused. "Your parents were taken from us by Voldemort himself. I'm so sorry, James," he finished.

James stared at Dumbledore in disbelief. He could feel hot tears welling up in his eyes, and he noticed Dumbledore was doing the same.

"If you need anything, ill be here," he said, "but they have left everything in your possession. Now if you don't mind, I have some issues I need to sort out." And with that, he swiftly left.

It felt like James' world was falling around him. His parents meant everything to him, and now he had nothing. He really needed Lily right now, but talking to her like she was a friend hurt too much. She wasn't meant to be his friend, but right now James felt as if she would never love him… Never care for him like he did her.

He slowly got up and made his way to the portrait hole. He could now feel hot tears run down his face, with an awful sick feeling in his stomach.

When he climbed through the portrait, he immediately began walking back to Gryffindor common room, determined to go straight to bed.

From behind him, Lily said, "Potter, is Dumbledore ok? Because he just rushed past m—" but her voice trailed off… She must have noticed something was wrong.

"Potter? What is up with everyone toni—."

"FUCK UP, EVANS!" he shouted, turning around, even surprising himself. "YOU KNOW WHAT IS UP WITH EVERYONE? IT'S THE FACT THAT THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU. YOU TRY AND GET THEM TO JUST NOTICE YOU… TRY AND GET THEM TO LOOK AT YOU IN THE EYES… Just once. But they never do."

Lily stood there, rooted to the spot. James stared at her for the first time since he yelled at her last in the heads common room. She was so beautiful, yet he couldn't help the annoyance… The hate running through his veins.

"A-and it k-kills me," he said, sliding down the wall and sitting on the ground with his head in his hands. He was sure if he stayed standing for much longer, he would have fallen over anyway.

He began to cry again, but this time he couldn't control himself. He didn't care about anything anymore. He knew he must look like the biggest idiot right now in front of Lily, but she must have thought differently because he felt her hand on his shoulder.

A tingling feeling shot from his shoulder, through his whole body… Something he had never felt before. He needed her more than she would ever know right now. But her kneeling beside him hurt 

him more then ever. It was like wanting the fastest broomstick in the shop, but not having enough money to buy it.

"What is wrong?" she asked, interrupting his thoughts.

He couldn't bring himself to say anything. She was the last person he wanted feeling sorry for him. He was angry at her for choosing Seth, and he was even angrier at Voldemort for murdering his parents.

He stood up slowly, before turning around to Lily who was still kneeling and said, "You know what? Forget about it." After saying this, he turned on his heal and headed towards Gryffindor tower.

He climbed through the portrait hole to find only the marauders and Emer in there, sitting down by the fire. All four of them looked up to see who entered. Emer shot Sirius a worried look, which James ignored and headed straight up to the dormitories.

He was only in there a few seconds before the door opened and Sirius came through.

"You right, mate?" he asked.

"Yeah," James lied.

"James, I know when there's something up with my best mate," he replied.

"M-mum and Dad w-were…" but he couldn't finished the sentence. Instead, he sat there in silent tears, not wanting to look up at Sirius.

For the first time in all the years that he has known Sirius, he took a step forward and pulled James into a hug. James returned the hug, and actually felt like he had someone left… something to live for.

"You know I'll always be there for you, mate. No matter what," Sirius said, finally letting him go.

"Thanks, Padfoot," is all that he could say, before giving Sirius a forced smile.

"You should get some sleep. You look like shit," he said. "No offence," he added, seeing the look on James' face.

James laughed. "None taken," he replied.

"So, ahh… Do you want me to tell the others? It'll save you having to do it," Sirius asked.

"I would greatly appreciate that," James replied.

Sirius patted James on the shoulder before leaving the room. James slowly got dressed into his Pajamas, not even bothering to have a shower, and climbed into his four-poster bed…

…………………………………………………………..

**A/N:** I'm sorry about this chapter, but I had to do it. I had to do something that would make Lily realize that James is a human being… with feelings. Special thanks to lollipopprongs & ahrocks08 for reviewing my last chapter. Hope you liked it. PLEASE REVIEW !


	10. And his world is falling apart

**A/N:** This is only a short chapter. Once again, there's swearing involved, and a little violence.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter (these get really annoying to do haha).

…………………………………………………

It felt like James had just gone to sleep when he woke up the next day. When he looked around at the other four-posters, he noticed that Remus and Peter were there… He was too upset lat night to have even noticed them in the common room. It must be early.

Slowly, James got out of bed and gathered his clothes so he could have a shower. After his shower, he made he was towards the Great hall for breakfast and was pleased to see he was the first in there. Eager to avoid questions, he grabbed two pieces of buttered toast and set off towards the library.

………………………………………………….

**Lily's POV**

"Lily! Wait up!" called Liz.

Lily stopped walking. She was so tired she was surprised she hadn't fallen asleep just standing there.

"H-Have you been crying?" asked Emer, who was on Liz's other side.

"No," she replied. This was a lie. Lily had been so upset because of the way James had talked to her that she hardly got any sleep. Maybe she did care about James after all…

"Oh, that's alright then. Did you get much sleep last night, Lily, because you look like shit?" asked Emer again.

"Yeah, I had a rough night. Don't worry about it though, I'll catch up tonight." Lily replied.

"Ok then. Did you hear about James?" Liz asked.

"No, what happened?" Lily said; this made a mixture of feelings run through her stomach.

"Oh it was terrible," Emer answered, pulling out the daily profit from inside her bag and handing it to her.

It read:

_**He Who Must Not Be Named Strikes… Yet again.**_

_Late yesterday afternoon the ministry was tipped on the whereabouts of You Know Who, but unfortunately, were too late. The ministry's arrival at Goddricks Hollow was moments too late, when they discovered the Potter family's house had been destroyed (see picture). Following this, the body's of the parent's of James Potter, who resides at Hogwarts, were found later that night by none other than Albus Dumbledore…_

Lily dropped the paper, with silent tears streaming down her face.

No wonder he was so upset…

Guilt ran through Lily's veins as she picked up the Daily Profit and handed back to Emer.

"Lily? Are you ok?" Liz asked, pulling her into a bear hug.

"Y-Yeah I'm fine… That's just so h-horrible," Lily replied.

"Have you seen James today?" asked Emer.

"No, n-not yet. Dumbledore must have t-told him last night after our meeting. H-he came out upset and I asked w-what was wrong and he yelled at me."

"Lily, he would have been emotional… Hell, if my parents were killed by You Know Who, I'd be like that," Lily said.

"I know. But I've never seen so much… hate in his eyes."

"I think you might be exaggerating this a bit," Emer replied, "Lily, he has liked you since he met you, and I'm sure he won't be over you yet… Trust me," she added.

"See, now that's where you go wrong, Emer. James would not have spoken to me like that if he cared about me that much," she said, talking more to her shoes then to Liz or Emer. This was until Lily heard someone call her name out from behind her.

The three of them turned around to see who it was.

"Seth…" Emer mumbled with a look of annoyance, which made Lily shoot her a nasty look.

"Hey Seth," Lily said, smiling.

"We'll meet you in charms," Emer said, before they both walked away.

"How have you been?" he asked, returning the smile.

"Not so good," she admitted. "But a lot better now," she began to flirt with him.

_If James was that angry at her then she might as well make him jealous…_

_Wait… Why would I want to make him jealous?_

He took a step closer to Lily, before grabbing both of her hands in his.

"You know, Lily, I've never felt so attached to anyone… Ever," he said, moving closer.

Lily didn't know what to say. Instead, she looked into his eyes and smiled again, feeling rather stupid.

He moved even closer, closing the gap between them. Lily, slightly alarmed, took a step backwards and hit the corridor wall. Seth laughed, taken this as a sign for him to move even closer.

_What is this kid playing at?_

Being taller than Lily was, he began to move his face down closer to hers. He was so close that she could count the freckles on his face… Not that he had any. Lily didn't know what to do, when suddenly…

"LILY!"

This made Seth jump about a meter backwards, putting his heads on his head.

It was Sirius.

"What the?"

…And Remus.

"James, I know you're Head Boy… But can you look away for a second?" asked Sirius.

…And James. Lily's heart sank.

But Sirius did something that Lily never thought he was capable of… anymore that is. He walked up to Seth, grabbed him by the shirt and punched him right in the jaw. Lily screamed, and stood there in shock, while Remus and James attempted to pull Sirius off him.

But something even more unexpected happened. Seth advanced on Sirius, knocking James out of the way and began to punch every part of Sirius that he could reach.

"SETH!" Lily yelled. He ignored her.

"SETH, DAMMIT!" she yelled again, before taking out her wand and yelling, "Expelliarmus!"

Seth's body shot backwards, along with Sirius and Remus. Apparently it had not only hit its target, but hit everyone around him.

Seth quickly got up, before turning to Lily and saying," Ill talk to you later," and walked away briskly.

"That fucking bastard!" said Sirius, "I swear if I could get my hands on him one more time…"

Tears started to well up in Lily's eyes, which made Sirius stop halfway through his sentence.

"I'm sorry Lily. I swear I didn't mean for that to happen. It's just…" he broke off, looking in James' direction. James was still on the ground, staring at a spot on the wall.

"Potter…I-I'm sorry about… this… about everything," she said.

"It doesn't matter anymore," he said, before getting up and walking away, leaving her to watch him do this for the third time.

"Lily, don't worry about it. He has been like that to everyone… He's been through a lot lately," Remus said.

Lily smiled. Remus was always one to cheer someone up. "Thanks," she managed to say.

"He's actually a great guy," Sirius said.

"I know," she agreed.

"Wait up… _The_ Lily Evans just admitted that James was a great guy? Wow, today really has been weird," Sirius said, shaking his head as if he wanted to wake up from a dream.

Lily laughed. "Promise me one thing, Mr. Black."

"Do go on, I'm intrigued," he replied.

"Give him a hug for me," She said, looking into his hansom face.

"Woah…Too much homosexuality within a small period of time, Evans."

She laughed again, "Do I want to know what you're talking about?"

"Oh it's not that bad. I just gave him a hug last night; he might start to get the wrong idea that's all. But since you're Head Girl, I better do it otherwise you might put me on more detention then you're already about to."

"I'll make you a deal, Black. You give him a hug; I won't give you any detentions whatsoever."

"Lily Evans, you are an angel!" he replied, offering her a high five.

Ignoring it, she said, "But that doesn't mean Seth won't tell anyone about your little episode."

With that, she walked away, only looking back to give him a cheeky smile.

"Now that's that bullshit, right there, Evans…" Sirius shouted after her. This made her laugh.

……………………………………………………

**A/N:** Hope you enjoyed this chapter… Don't worry, James and Lily WILL be together Lol, just not yet.

Let me know what you think about this chapter.


	11. Frustration

**A/N: **Chapter eleven, enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter.

…………………………………………………………

**James' POV**

"James?" Sirius said.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"You're supposed to be leading the team…" Sirius gave him a confused look.

"Oh shit, yeah. Sorry guys, um... I guess we should all head out then." James said.

"James… You haven't done introductions," Sirius replied, smirking.

"Oh right. Everyone, my name is James if you didn't already know, and I play seeker. This is Sirius, he is a chaser and in his 7th year. Next we have Harry and Ebony; they are chasers along with Sirius. Aaron on the other side is our beater; he was in the team last year too. The other beater is Rick, he's new so go easy on him and finally our keeper is Madelyn."

"Nice speech, now lets get out there," Aaron said.

The team filed out of the change rooms, James waiting till the end before he started to move. He had been through so much in a short amount of time. It was Sunday afternoon, and the Gryffindor Quidditch team had their first training session, determined to win the Cup.

It was true; he was feeling slightly less aggressive and was happier then he was at the start of the week. The fact that he had to buy his own dress robes for the ball instead of his parents hit him hard. It was like a huge part of him was missing; he needed Lily right now.

But there was still unfinished business to attend to. He had yelled at Lily. Not once, not twice… But three times. He knew he had hurt her, even if it wasn't much. But he didn't have the guts to say sorry.

Hell, he didn't even have the guts to look at her, let alone talk to her. When he reached the pitch, he instructed the team to fly around the a few times to get used to the conditions. He did the same, knowing Lily was watching him from the stands where she sat with Emer and Liz, and for the first time she made him nervous.

Sirius, Harry and Ebony practiced scoring with Madelyn defending the posts, whilst Aaron and Rick practiced hitting bludgers at fake targets. James, on the other hand, did what he did best… Let the snitch go and gave it a head start, before trying to catch it.

But it was impossible. He couldn't concentrate. Every time he would be so close to catching it, he would see Lily's face, and how hurt she was after he had torn her to pieces.

_Maybe she does care about me… Even if it's only a little bit._



Finally giving up, he roughly landed on the pitch and through his broom at the ground in frustration. He could sense every eye in the stands watching him as he picked up his broom and made his way back to the change rooms, leaving Sirius in charge.

Halfway back up to the castle, Remus and Peter caught up to him.

"You alright, Prongs?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, just been a pretty shitty week, that's all," he replied, continuing to walk.

None of them said anything, not knowing whether James would snap at them or not. Instead, James spoke again.

"How's the detention, Wormtail?" he asked.

"It's alright," Peter answered.

"I still can't believe you were going to turn us all in, after all we've done for you Pete. Plus, it was your bloody fault your wand was left there anyway," James said.

Peter had been called up to the Headmasters office later that week and was given two weeks worth of afternoon detentions.

"Tell me this … How is it that you are watching Quidditch instead of being in one of your detentions?"

"I got weekends off, I thought I told you already," Peter answered.

"You probably did, I just wasn't listening."

"James…I know that this is a touchy subject and you don't really like to talk about it, but have you spoken to Lily since…" but he broke off, and James knew what he was talking about.

"I… haven't," he relied.

"I thought you were going to yell at me," Remus said, looking surprised.

James gave a forced laugh. "No, I see your point, Moony, but I can't really bring myself to talk to her."

"She cares about you."

"If she cared about me she wouldn't have been snogging that idiot Seth. She knew what she was doing… It's not like she was drunk or anything."

Peter laughed for some reason, while Remus shook his head, smiling.

"Mate, you're not going to become friends with her if you keep putting your apology off," Remus said.

"Well it doesn't really matter anymore, because she chose him and not me… I can't do anything about it."



"You're looking at this from the wrong way."

"No I'm not!" James started getting defensive.

Remus laughed again.

"James, you're stubborn."

It was James' turn to laugh this time, just as they reached the castle.

"How long until the ball, James?" asked Peter.

James thought for a minute. "Three and a half weeks I think," he finally replied, before heading towards the Gryffindor common room.

………………………………………………………..

Lily's POV

"I wonder why James left training," Liz said.

The three of them began to descend the stairs of the grand stand and head back up to the castle with Sirius.

"Well it was obvious wasn't it? He can't concentrate at the moment," Lily replied bitterly.

"Just go talk to him, it won't do you any harm," Emer joined in.

"It will when he turns around and rips my head off!" Lily answered.

"Now, I don't think James is capable of ripping of heads…" came Sirius' voice from behind them.

Emer immediately stopped walking so that she could walk next to him.

Lily and Liz continued their conversation, while Emer whispered to Sirius.

"About the plan…?"

Sirius looked at her puzzled, before answering, "What plan?"

"The James and Lily plan… I swear you get thicker by the minute."

"Oh," he answered, "it's going as good as it could be… If not better," he said, smirking.

"So the potion has been started?"

"Yes, should be ready in two weeks, if that."

Emer smiled," and THAT is why I like you so much," she said, before catching up to the other two and leaving Sirius by himself.

"What were you two gossiping about?" asked Lily.

'Oh nothing of any particular importance," Emer replied, smiling stupidly.



…………………………………………………

**A/N:** Just a short chapter to bring you up to date with what happened to Peter, James' emotions, the 'plan' and how long away the ball is.

Hopefully the next chapter WILL be the ball, but no guarantees. Thank you to those who reviewed my last chapter, or added the story to their alerts/favourites. Please review, it makes me want to write so much more!


	12. The perfect chapter

**A/N: **This chapter is a lot longer then most of them, but it was fun to write (and hard at the same time). Make sure you let me know what you think. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter.

………………………………………….

**Sirius' POV (for something different)**

"No, you don't add that!" screamed Emer.

"Um, I'm pretty sure you do, were you not listening in potions last year?" Sirius replied before adding, "Besides, you shouldn't even be in here, so shut it!"

Emer rolled her eyes towards Remus, who tried to hide his laugh.

"What the hell are you laughing about?" Sirius shot at Remus.

"Just at how uptight you get when you're trying to concentrate," he replied.

"Well if you two would just shut your mouths and let me do this, I wouldn't be so _uptight_," he said the last word in a mocking voice.

"Remember the time I was _trying_ to study for our OWL exams in five year?"

"What about it?" Sirius answered.

"Now you know how I felt when you and James kept setting my papers on fire… Which I might add that you found terribly amusing," Remus said, crossing his arms.

For the first time in the last fifteen minutes Sirius looked up laughing.

"Well, it was pretty good aim considering we were across the other side of the library," he said, while wearing a triumphant look upon his face.

"It wasn't bad, I was just glad when you both got detentions from Laura Murphy," he answered, now wearing the same smug look that Sirius had.

"Hey! She only gave us detentions because she fancied you."

"N-No she didn't," Remus replied, going slightly red.

"She so did! Every time you were in the library, which I might add was a considerably great amount of time, she was in there 'studying' too," said Sirius, now wearing a smug look.

Remus was just about to retaliate, when Emer cut him off, "Sorry to break up the party, but the bloody ball is in 2 days and you too are gasbagging about some Lauren girl who doesn't even go to this school anymore!"

"It was laur—" began Sirius.



"I don't care who it was, just get back to making this potion. Sirius, you said it would be ready a good week-and-a-half ago," Emer replied.

"OK, Ok, keep your knickers on."

"Oh don't you worry, they're not coming off anytime soon," she replied, before storming out of the boy's bathroom.

"Women," said Sirius, rolling his eyes. "Can't live with them, can't live without them."

……………………………………………………

James' POV

The two days leading up to the ball went fast for James, and it seemed him and the other marauders (bar Sirius) were the only people in the whole school not looking forward to it.

James had now not spoken a civil conversation with Lily for at least a month. He missed talking to her; there was no doubt about that. But what he really missed was the way she laughed when he said something funny, or the way she smiled when she knew she had beat him in an argument.

In head meetings, James would just sit there and either nod or shake his head, avoiding her eyes. James knew her timetable, as she was in most of his classes, which made it easy for him to avoid her. But what Remus had said just over three weeks ago had been true… He needed to say sorry. If only he could get her by her self…

"James!" said someone from behind him.

He turned around to find Sirius walking towards him, already half dressed in his dress robes.

"What are you doing just standing there, Prongs? We only have three hours until the ball starts!" he said, with a worried look on his face.

"Oh shit yeah, sorry I was just deciding whether to wear a bow tie or not," James lied, secretly laughing at the idea that Sirius needed three hours to get ready.

"Well decide while you're doing your hair, I don't want to be late," Sirius said, grabbing James' arm and dragging him up the stairs to their dormitory.  
"Sirius I don't have to do my hair… And will you let me go I am perfectly capable of walking by myself," James added.

"Oh," said Sirius, letting him go and stopping dead. "Too paranoid?"

"Yes, too paranoid. Sirius, we have three hours!"

"OK! I just wanted to look good," he said, relaxing just a bit at the thought of having so much time.

"But why? You don't exactly need to impress anyone," asked James, puzzled.

"James… You disappoint me. Of course I need to look good! This is my chance for everyone to realize that I'm a babe," he said, smirking.



James rolled his eyes at the cockiness of his best friend.

_That's the Sirius I know…_

"What about Emer?" James asked.

"Well we've been fighting a lot lately, and I just thought that tonight might be a great opportunity," Sirius replied.

James looked at him with shock. "Sirius… You're not going to cheat on her are you?"

"No! No, of course not! That is the _old_ Sirius," he answered.

"Ahh, Ok. Then what about the _new_ Sirius?" James asked.

"I have thought this through quite a lot. The plan is that I'm going to look good; all the younger girls will be after me… Which makes Emer realize how lucky she is to have me," he finished, as if he was waiting for James to ask all along.

James laughed… "Someone is whipped," before opening the dormitory door, and walking in to get dressed.

………………………………………………….

**Lily's POV**

"Quick, hand me the hairspray," She called over towards Liz.

Obeying, Liz lobbed the hairspray across the dormitory, narrowly missed Emer's head.

"How long have we got?" asked Emer.

"Just under ten minutes," Lily replied.

"Shit! I haven't even gotten dressed yet," Emer said, panicking.

"I wonder if the boys are already down stairs," asked Liz.

This made Lily's once happy mood turn into a sad one. As much as she had hated him, put up with all that he has done and constantly denied even considering him as a friend, she missed him. She had even gone as far as to admitting to herself that she did care for him, but just how much she wasn't sure yet.

Emer had kept reminding her about how much of an idiot Seth was, after the incident about a month before hand. It was true, Lily hadn't fully forgiven Seth for retaliating, and felt that he should have been more mature in that particular situation. But none the less, she was going with him to the ball tonight.

"I'm not sure," Emer replied, "It takes Sirius a good few hours to make his hair sit where he wants it to." This made the other two laugh.



Remus had asked Liz to the ball yesterday afternoon, but Lily was sure he only did it because the other marauders would have told him to. Liz didn't mind, at least she now had someone to go with. Most girls, particularly those in their seventh year, were treating tonight as their last opportunity to show themselves off before they left school.

After all, the ball only happens once a year, if that.

"How do you use this?" asked Liz, holding up the hairspray bottle.

"Just point it at your hair and press that top button," lily replied.

"Woah, what's inside it?"

"It's like a spell that makes your hair stay the same all night, but better. I think it lasts longer then the spell anyway… Muggles use it all the time," Lily said knowingly.

"Ok then," Liz replied, spraying slightly too much in her hair.

"How long now?" asked Emer again.

"Two minutes, we better head down."

The three of them grabbed their things and headed down the stairs, through the portrait hole and towards the great hall. When they reached the marble staircase, the sounds of hundreds of kids met their ears. They began to descend the stairs, with Lily looking around at the boys who were waiting in the entrance hall for their dates. Lily immediately spotted Seth and began to make her way towards him.

When she reached him, he got down on one knee and said, "You look beautiful, as always," before kissing her hand.

Many people watched with interest, while Sirius, only a short way away from them, pretended to vomit. Seth stood up again, while Lily looked around to see that James was arm in arm with Madelyn, the keeper from the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Jealousy shot through Lily's veins, which even surprised her.

"Shall we go in?" Seth asked.

"Sure," she replied, smiling.

……………………………………………………………

**Sirius' POV**

The night had gone smoothly so far. It was only ten o'clock, and Sirius' plan had worked. He had already had at least half a dozen girls ask him to dance and it was obvious that Emer was getting quite jealous.

But they both had to push this to the back of their minds because now was the time for the real plan. Sirius nodded to Emer, who gave Remus a kick under the table, who accidently spilt his punch 

all over Peter. Peter swore, before standing up and going to the bathroom, closely followed by Remus who stated that he was going for 'emotional support'.

Sirius got up from the table, stretched, and said to Liz, James and Madelyn that he and Emer were going to get some fresh air. They both started towards the front grounds, before turning up the marble staircase at the last minute. Soon enough, all four of them were in the men's bathroom.

"Got the polyjuice potion?" asked Remus.

"Of course," Sirius replied, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small flask.

"Did anyone see where Lily was when we all left?" asked Emer.

"She was on the dance floor, I'm not sure where Seth was though," Sirius replied.

"That works out well then," Remus said, scrunching up his face as if he were thinking hard.

"Alright… here goes nothing," Sirius said, before handing Peter the small flask.

"Oh shit! The hair!" Said Peter, hitting his forehead.

Sirius found this amusing, before saying, "Never mind, Wormy, I got a spare one just in case," he said, before reaching into his pocket again and pulling out a small jar with a strand of Seth's hair inside. He grabbed the flask off Peter and added the hair. It sizzled for a few seconds, before turning a dark brown colour.

"Yuk! The same as his eyes… This kid makes me sicker by the minute," Sirius said.

"On three," Emer said, ignoring Sirius.

"One, two, three," the group said in unison.

Peter swallowed the whole flask before giving a look of disgust, and discarding it onto the bathroom floor. Immediately, he began to grow taller. His once large stomach was now gone, and his skin grew darker in colour.

Before they knew it, Peter, who could be mistaken for Seth, was now standing before them, his dress robes baggy, yet extremely short.

"Oh how much I would like to punch you right now, Peter," said Sirius smirking.

"Right, we've got an hour from now," said Remus, "take these dress robes, get changed and meet us outside the toilets before someone walks in and wonders what we are doing."

They all filed out of the toilets and when they were outside, Remus reached into his pocket and pulled out a small clock.

"It's twenty past ten; Liz will be walking Lily outside in about ten minutes."

"Great timing if I might say so myself," Sirius added, just as the fake Seth walked out of the toilets wearing dress robes that more suited his body shape.



"Let's get this over with then," said Emer.

"Oh and, stay clear of the punch, people," Sirius added, smirking, "otherwise you might not feel so good in the morning…"

………………………………………………

**Lily's POV**

The music was awfully loud and Lily had a large headache from all the dancing she was doing. She wondered where Seth was, as he had been gone a long time considering he was only getting them both drinks. Deciding she needed fresh air, she made her way through the crowd until she reached the garden outside.

It had been done up nicely, with white roses and pathways and chairs for couples. She turned a corner and sat in one of the chairs to give her legs a rest. There was a bit of movement in the bushes, and when she looked closely she could make out two figures kissing. Rolling her eyes and looking at them disgusted, she stood up to tell them to go somewhere else when she noticed who it was.

Seth immediately stopped, realizing that Lily was watching the whole time. He pushed the girl away from him and took a step towards Lily, brushing leaves out of his hair. Lily was shocked, and couldn't move a muscle.

Seth said something first, "Lily, look. I'm sorry so this isn't what you think it is… She is just a friend I swear."

Lily couldn't believe what she was hearing… She had trusted him and like Emer said, he was just using her. She felt hot tears run down her face as she backed away from him.

"Lily, wait! Please…" he began but she broke him off…

"No Seth… You're a complete j-jerk I hope you realize t-that. I trusted you so much, but I guess my friends were right about you," she finished turning around and walking away. But she stopped, turned around and said to the girl, "Oh and, I wouldn't trust anything he says… he's a complete toss!"

…………………………………………………

**Sirius' POV**

"She was crying!" said Liz with a worried look on her face.

"What do you mean she was crying? And why didn't you go after her?" Sirius asked angrily.

"What I mean is… One minute she was dancing and the next someone told me they saw her crying! And the reason I didn't go after her is because I thought she had already seen the fake Seth kissing a girl."

"But Peter is here with us! We haven't even done the plan yet!"



Sirius swore loudly, before running his hands through his hair.

"You must be pissed… because you just wrecked the hair that all those girls were drooling over," said Emer, folding her arms.

"What the hell is with you lately?" asked Sirius, his temper rising even more.

"Well, the fact that you seem to love all the attention… especially when it's from girls!" she argued.

"Oh so this is all my fault now?" he asked.

"No, I am just saying that we seem to be fighting a lot lately, and you don't really seem to care!"

"Well if it's that bad, maybe you should break up with me!" he answered back, not actually thinking she would do it.

"Fine! It's over Sirius," she said, before turning around and running away.

Sirius stood there, hating himself for saying the last thing he had said. Tonight wasn't gone to plan at all…

………………………………………………..

**James' POV**

James stood up at the table and told Madelyn he would be back in a minute. The other four had been gone nearly an hour and he thought he better make sure they were OK. After searching the toilets, the Gryffindor common room and the heads common room, he decided to head outside.

He thought that is was rather nice and peaceful out here, noticing a bed of white roses had been set up just for the occasion. Grabbing one off the nearest bush, he examined it as he began to walk towards the whomping willow, but something stopped him in his tracks. He could hear someone crying… a girl crying.

He squinted towards the outskirts of the late and saw a small dark figure sitting down, their red hair visible in the moon light.

"Lily?" he whispered to himself.

He began to walk towards her, picking up the pace and still holding the beautiful white rose in his hand. When he reached her, she looked up and quickly looked away, sobbing even more.

"Evans, what's wrong?" he said, his voice was soft for some reason.

"Go away, Potter!" she snapped.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong!" he said, stubbornly.

"Fine! I caught Seth kissing another girl, happy?" she said, looking up at him again. Her tear stained face killed him.

"Oh. He's a git, everyone knew it," James said, not knowing what else to say.



She laughed, but James was sure it was a fake one.

"I'm sorry," he added.

She laughed again. "He's the one that should be saying sorry."

"No, I meant I'm sorry."

Lily's facial expressions turned blank.

"Why did you yell at me like that?" She asked.

"I don't know it just happened," he replied.

"But it was only me, Potter! You were talking to everyone else," she said, getting angry at him.

"You put me through hell!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You knew I liked you, you knew it! But you go out with some idiot instead?"

"I didn't know he was an idiot at the time!" she replied, getting defensive.

"Well all the signs were there, Evans, you were just too ignorant to see them!"

"But why did you treat me like that?" their voices were now nearly yelling.

"I went through so much in a short amount of time, it's normally expected! Why do you care so much, Evans?" he asked, this time he was yelling.

"BECAUSE I LIKE YOU, POTTER… THAT'S WHY!" she yelled back before standing up.

James stood there shocked.

_Did she really just say that?_

"Then why didn't you come after me? You had three opportunities and you threw them right out the bloody window!"

"I was scared, I didn't know what I wanted," she said.

"Oh but I do, you wanted him! You were snogging him! You chose him over me, I get it Evans," he said, before turning around and walking away.

He had only gotten a few paces before he felt her hand grab his arm and spin him round. He wasn't sure what she was doing, but something in her eyes had changed. They were no longer filled with anger and hate, they were filled with the type of feelings James only wished she would one day look at him like, and suddenly, she kissed him.

Half shocked, half happy, James reacted by softy touching her face and kissing her back. It was like he had imagined, but ten times better. To James, it felt like the world had stopped just for them and after the longest ten seconds of James' life, they broke apart.



Lily stood there, not believing what she had just done.

"If only this rose looked as beautiful as you," he said, before handing it to her and running back up to the castle, smiling stupidly to himself.

………………………………………………..

**A/N:** Hope you liked it:) finally a REAL Lily and James scene. REVIEW PLEASE !


	13. True friends would do anything

**WOW! Is all i have to say. Who would have thought id come back to this story 3 years later. or was it 4? or 5? Haha, anyway im sorry for not updating... But thought id have another crack at it. Hope you enjoy...**

**James' POV.**

It was a dream.

A good dream. The best damn dream he had ever put his hand to his lip, he could still feel her soft lips- they tasted like pumpkin. He smiled to himself.

She must have been drinking Pumpkin juice

Then it wasnt a dream? But it had to be... She had said he liked him. Lily Evans had admitted that she like James Potter.  
It was a dream, James had come to the decision. He opened his eyes finally and looked around the boys dormitory. Peter was lying flat on his back with his mouth wide open, drooling too. On Peters other side was Remus- His curtains were drawn but he could hear his wolf-like snore- obviously it didnt go to well with Liz, if you know what i mean. His grabbed a dirty sock off the floor and flipped over to throw it at Sirius' bed but he froze in mid-air.

He wasnt there.

James frowned. Sirius was a respectable young man- he always made sure he was back in bed by sunrise, no matter how hot the girl was. Perhaps Emer was the one to finally settle him down.

_Good on her_.

James got quietly out of bed and picked up some clothes to wear before making his way towards the bathrooms.  
He decided to avoid the Heads bathroom incase he ran into Lily- that would be bad. After the dream he had last night he might just jump her right then and there.  
When he was finished he made his way down to the common room and was pleased to see it was empty. Maybe Sirius did end up spiking the punch and the whole of Hogwarts had a hangover. James smiled to himself again- only Sirius could pull off a prank that big and no one would be game enough to say anything. Speaking of Sirius, where is that little bastard?

"Didnt have any punch then?"

James jumped and whipped his body around to look for the speaker. It was Liz still in her dress from last night.

"I didnt get the chance actually. I wouldnt have minded some though- it could have helped me sleep better," James replied, trying not to think of that dream.

Liz gave a half-hearted laugh. Was she ok? Or was James just imagining her puffy eyes.

"So, did i interrupt your walk of shame or are you having fun down here with all your friends?" Shit, tactful James,  
very tactful.

"I havent gotten any sleep, if thats what you mean".

"And why's that?" He replied, trying to sound nicer, almost genuine.

"Because im a good friend, i guess."

"I know you are- but that doesnt answer my question."

Liz looked down at her fingernails and gave another fake stupid laugh. "Its hard though, being a good friend. Especially when youre as emotional as a wall."

"Walls arent emotional."

She shot James an angry look. "I know that Potter, but how do you deal with one of your best friends breaking up with their boyfriend and then they drink so much stupid punch that they can barely scratch their own ass."

James, who was about to finally sit down on one of the couches froze in mid air.

"What?"

"Never mind Potter, since when did you care about anyone but yourself?"

"Excuse me, why do you think im listening to you right now? Because i care! Who was it? Please tell me youre not talking about Emer because Sirius wasnt in his bed this morning and i was hoping he'd be down here."

"You guessed it."

James swore loudly.

"What happened? tell me Everything."

Liz hesitated.

"Liz, this is Serious! he didnt come back! He's not up there!" He said, Pointing to the boys dormitory. James voice got louder but he quickly reminded himself to be quiet, he didnt want anyone else coming down.

"I cant tell you everything."

James rolled his eyes. "Well tell me what you can."

"Well... They started arguing, you know how they always do. And as far as i know He said why dont you break up with me and then she did. Then she drank about 2 litres of that punch that Sirius always spikes, knowing what was in it. And, well... You can imagine what happened after that."

James looked at her pleadingly.

"Okay, okay! She wanted to take it back the second she said it so she went looking for him, except no one could find him. We asked everyone but you know it yourself James.. If a marauder doesnt want to be found, then they dont get found. So we ran into Seth and some 5th year Slytherin girl and she said she saw him and another girl head down to the whomping willow. Emer lost it- Ive only just managed to get her to sleep. And thats after she spewed her guts up all over me."

James ran his hands through his hair and sank into the chair behind him. All the happiness he had finally felt since his parents had been killed had flooded out of him quicker then it had come. He sighed- What should he do next? Wake the others? Go and purposfully walk in on Sirius and his new rag doll that he will toss aside the second he woke up? Avada Kedavra himself so that he doesn't have to deal with any of the shit this year has brought? He laughed, then realised this probably wasnt the right time to laugh. Liz looked up at him to see what was so funny.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just plotting my own death."

"Nice, you can plot mine aswell. I dont know what i would have done if Lily wasnt there. She's probably ten times the friend ill ever be."

James' head shot up at the mention of Lily. A sickening feeling swelled in the pit of his stomach. Where did she sleep last night?

Liz put her hand up and said, "Stop, its okay. Shes tucked away nicely in her own bed, i watched her fall asleep actually."  
She paused. "Did that sound creepy?"

James wasnt paying attention. he was just glad she didnt spend the night with that ugly merman who thinks that Lily is his property.

One day ill break his jaw

"Anyway, i think i need to shower- i still smell like vomit. If you find Sirius, tell him he better watch out because he was just crossed off my Christmas Card list. Bye, Potter."

"Cya."

James waited till she was up the stairs before getting up and walking towards the portrait of the fat lady. She was snoring- but he woke her up when he pushed it open.

"Who's that?"

"Its James, did Sirius come in at all last night?" He knew if Sirius had come home then the Fat lady would know- Sirius even had portraits longing for him.

"No young Master Black didnt return last night, i hope he hasnt found another women! He promised he only had eyes for me."

James swore under his breath.

"Thanks."

He set off again, slightly faster, this time towards the grounds. When he reached the whomping willow he managed to dodge its waving branches and dive into the hole at the bottom of the trunk. He climbed his way towards the top and finally reached the landing to the main room. There were muddy paw prints on the wooden floor boards- Sirius must have been there. James reached out and pushed the door open and scanned the room. The chairs and table that were in the corner last time James had been here were broken and scattered all over the floor. The window was smashed in several places.

Everything was wrecked- Everything except the large bed to the left. In it was the figure of a curled up teenage boy. His best friend. His Brother.

His brother must have heard him because he jumped up and pointed his wand at James.

"Oh, its you." Sirius said, lowering his wand and chucking it onto the floor.

He had dark rings around his eyes and his once neat hair was now the total opposite. He was wearing nothing but a bit of ripped sheet that had been stripped from the bed.

"You alright, mate?"

Sirius sighed. "Looks like its only ever gonna be us marauders, Prongs."

**Hope you like it, and let me know if there are any old readers still out there!**

**Jo**


End file.
